Invoke or BeginInvoke cannot be called on a control until the window handle has been created

What a pain! This error has been bugging me since morning and thankfully I have found a way of resolving this.

*Note: This has been tested on Windows 2008 R2 while installing SQL 2008.

The problem seems to be on the .NET 3.5 installation that you did as a prerequisite for SQL 2008. To resolve this we need to add another feature.

1. Go to Server Manager
2. Add a new feature
3. Select Windows Process Activation Services 
4. Check .NET Environment
5. Install SQL 2008 again

Some users find that closing all running applications except the SQL Installation works.