Unable to install WSUS on a Domain Controller

I have installed WSUS 3.0 so many time’s I could likely do it while drunk (not that I advocate drinking and networking as a general rule), not that this is a particularly great accomplishment because it’s really not that complicated. That’s what makes it all the more aggravating when it doesn’t work. I was installing WSUS on a DC and it kept failing with error The setup has encountered an unexpected error while Setting Internal Properties.. I did everything I could think of here. I re-installed all the components of WSUS, I tried both an internal windows database as well as installing SQL and installed WSUS into a SQL instance. Nothing worked until for a completely un-related reason I had to demote and re-promote the server as a domain controller and after that WSUS installed without issues. Sometimes I think that even Sherlock Holmes would not be able to solve the mystery that is Microsoft software.