SharePoint 2010 Products and Configuration Wizard Error

Operating System : Windows Server 2008 R2 (all important updates installed)
Installing : SharePoint Foundation 2010 Standalone (with SQL Server 2008 Express SP1) in one box.

Steps successfully performed:

• I installed all pre-requisites using SharePointFoundation.exe
• I restarted the Server
• While running SharePoint 2010 Products and Configuration Wizard, I received the following errors

After resolving the above error I received

Here is the right approach

• Before running ShaerPoint 2010 Products and Configuration Wizard, Right-click on the folder %commonprogramfiles%\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14 click Properties from the context menu and then select the Security tab > select Edit
• On the Permissions for 14 dialog click Add… and enter Network Service in the Enter the object names to select and then click OK.
• On the Permissions for 14 dialog select Full Control under Permissions for NETWORK SERVICE and click OK twice.

The second screenshot above is faced when you don't have the Cumulative Update 2 installed for SQL Server 2008 Express. Download and Install SQL Server 2008 KB 970315 x64