You probably installed SQL Server a few times and it went smoothly. However this time, you ended up with the following issue/symptoms at the installation: the server configuration wizard is stuck with the “Please Wait” and/or (not responding) message.
This is often happening when custom domain users (for Service Accounts) are defined instead of local built-in accounts. It usually mean that there is some communication issues with this server and the domain.
However, it can also happen when communication with the domain is fine, but no domain suffix is configured (or if the domain suffix order is wrong). Make sure to review these settings in the network interface (IPv4) settings.
Additional information: You will find something similar like this in the installation log (Detail.txt):
ERROR: Encountered exception when validating service account ‘DOMAIN\ServiceAccount’: Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.Sco.ScoException: The RPC server is unavailable. —> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x800706BA): The RPC server is unavailable. at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntries.Find(String name, String schemaClassName) at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.Sco.User.LookupADEntry() — End of inner exception stack trace — at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.Sco.User.LookupADEntry() at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.Sco.User.Exists() at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.Sco.UserSecurity.ValidateCredentials(ServiceContainer ctx, String userName, String password, String serviceName) at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.Agent.AccountsUtil.ValidateUserNameAndPassword(String serviceName, String userName, SqlSecureString pwd, Boolean userNameRequired, Boolean isCluster, ValidationState validationState, ServiceContainer context)