In my experience, this happened when we were using the wrong version of SitecoreInstallFramework to install Sitecore. Check the Sitecore documentation of which version of SIF is needed and install that before Installing Sitecore instance.
Sitecore XP Version | SIF Version |
9.0.x | 1.2.1 |
9.1 | 2.0.0 |
9.1.1 | 2.1.0 |
Command to Install SIF:
Install-Module SitecoreInstallFramework
Command to get a list of SIF's already installed:
Get-Module -Name SitecoreInstallFramework -ListAvailable
Command to Uninstall all versions of SIF:
Uninstall-Module SitecoreInstallFramework -AllVersions
The command to Update SIF:
Update-Module SitecoreInstallFramework -force
PS: Make sure to close the PowerShell session and re-open it when your uninstalling SIF or else it will complain of SIF is in use and cannot uninstall.