SharePoint 2013 Configuration Wizzard

I think I've gotten this random issue when my server didn't have enough CPU or Memory.  What are your server stats?

Maybe try to run the config wizard "as administrator"?

Look into my post, where i was facing the same problem

http://yagyashree.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/sharepoint-2013-installation-error/

Please install SQL management studio and connect to SQL instance in which you are installing SharePoint

Then give "sysadmin" role to the account you are using to run the wizard

After that please run it again.

The system has 4 cores and 8 GB of RAM.  I actually watched it because that was part of one of the other problems I was having and it never hit above 80% processor usage.
The account I am using does have sysdadmin rights to the databases.  I do have a third party solution that I am going to unload and try the wizard again..

Try to delete the sample database created at first failure and then run the wizard again.

Here is the new error after deleting the sample database.

1:04:14  16  ERR                  Task applicationcontent has failed with an unknown exception
01/05/2013 21:04:14  16  ERR                  Exception: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPAspConfigurationFile.ApplyActionToXmlDocument(XmlDocument xdAction, XmlDocument xd, String sourceFileName, SupportedXmlDocutmentActions supportedActions)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPAspConfigurationFile.MergeWebConfig(XmlDocument xdWebConfig, String fileMask)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService.ApplyApplicationContentToLocalServer()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ApplicationContentTask.Run()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.TaskThread.ExecuteTask()

I also increased the memory to 12GB and the use of 6 processors.

Did you manage to get an answer for your query?

No I am still not able to finish the wizard.

Here is the last error I received.

 9  ERR                  Task applicationcontent has failed with an unknown exception
01/13/2013 10:52:37  9  ERR                  Exception: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPAspConfigurationFile.ApplyActionToXmlDocument(XmlDocument xdAction, XmlDocument xd, String sourceFileName, SupportedXmlDocutmentActions supportedActions)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPAspConfigurationFile.MergeWebConfig(XmlDocument xdWebConfig, String fileMask)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService.ApplyApplicationContentToLocalServer()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ApplicationContentTask.Run()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.TaskThread.ExecuteTask()
01/13/2013 10:52:37  9  INF                  Entering function Common.BuildExceptionMessage

Make sure the maxdegreeofparallelism is set to 1 on your SQL instance. Google it.

I have checked and all the instances I am using are set to 1.

Below is a complet list of the ERRs from the last attempt to run the wizard.

  18  ERR                  Task applicationcontent has failed with an unknown exception
01/13/2013 11:17:21  18  ERR                  Exception: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPAspConfigurationFile.ApplyActionToXmlDocument(XmlDocument xdAction, XmlDocument xd, String sourceFileName, SupportedXmlDocutmentActions supportedActions)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPAspConfigurationFile.MergeWebConfig(XmlDocument xdWebConfig, String fileMask)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService.ApplyApplicationContentToLocalServer()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ApplicationContentTask.Run()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.TaskThread.ExecuteTask()
18  ERR                  An exception of type System.NullReferenceException was thrown.  Additional exception information: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
18  ERR                    Task applicationcontent has failed
 1  ERR                          Task applicationcontent has stopped and failed.  Total failed is now 1
8  ERR                Task install application content files failed, so stopping execution of the engine
8  ERR                Failed to install the application content files.
An exception of type System.NullReferenceException was thrown.  Additional exception information: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPAspConfigurationFile.ApplyActionToXmlDocument(XmlDocument xdAction, XmlDocument xd, String sourceFileName, SupportedXmlDocutmentActions supportedActions)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPAspConfigurationFile.MergeWebConfig(XmlDocument xdWebConfig, String fileMask)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService.ApplyApplicationContentToLocalServer()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ApplicationContentTask.Run()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.TaskThread.ExecuteTask()
8  ERR                One or more configuration tasks has failed or some tasks were not run
8  ERR              One or more configuration tasks has failed to execute
8  ERR                Configuration of SharePoint Products failed.  Configuration must be performed in order for this product to operate properly.  To diagnose the problem, review the extended error information located at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\LOGS\PSCDiagnostics_1_13_2013_11_15_8_459_304068875.log, fix the problem, and run this configuration wizard again.

Does anybody have an idea?

Your configuration is failing when its trying to create a test web application and create a database for it.

Please remove the sample database created from SQL and run the wizard again.

I don't find a sample database on my SQL server.  Do you have any idea what it might be named?

I wonder if event 6610 may be the cause of this error...

Safe mode did not start successfully. Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.WebPartPageUserException: This page has encountered a critical error. Contact your system administrator if this problem persists.
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationRuntime.SafeControlsList.GetSafeControlsListFromPath(SPWebApplication app, SPUrlZone zone)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationRuntime.SafeControlsList..ctor(SPWebApplication app, SPUrlZone zone)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationRuntime.SafeControls..ctor(SPWebApplication app, SPUrlZone zone)

I have noticed that I get these errors and I think it is related to the wizzard.

So are you saying that the database doesn't get created at all?  I understand that the config wizard fails, but trying to understand if the SharePoint_Config database gets created or not.

Are you specifying just the name of the server, the IP, or the FQDN?

I have a SharePoint _Config database.  The site is actually up and running but I am getting errors like the 6610 errors.
 I now suspect that the errors are all coming from a server side dependency error that is about 12 pages long that deals with missing files and solutions that were present on the 2010 server but when we updated to 2013 were not moved or did not work in 2013.
 I have a consultant that has been helping users with site creations that does not think the missing files and solutions are a problem since his stuff is working even though the web.config files reference them,  He has created several solutions that are not being used anymore.  I have taken the ones I know are not being used out and that did away with about 25% of the errors.
I cannot create a new site collection on a new web app.  I think that is the real root of the problem but I cannot find a log or something that gives any details on why I cannot create the site collection.

I have upped the memory to 16GB and the problem still happen.

After 3 hours with Microsoft we forced the updates to run and now all is working right!