On_premises data gateway installation has failed

I've been grappling with this issue for about 6 weeks.

I went through all the fixes proposed on various forums but none of them worked; the installer progress bar would reach the end, hang for about 60 secs, and then roll back and announce its failure.

The log files said lots, but this stood out:

System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. ---> System.ServiceProcess.TimeoutException: Time out has expired and the operation has not been completed.
   at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController.WaitForStatus(ServiceControllerStatus desiredStatus, TimeSpan timeout)
   at Microsoft.PowerBI.DataMovement.CustomActionUtils.CustomActions.RestartServiceImpl(String serviceName, String processName, TimeSpan actionTimeout)
   at Microsoft.PowerBI.DataMovement.CustomActionUtils.CustomActions.RestartService(Session session)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(Object target, Object arguments, Signature sig, Boolean constructor)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.UnsafeInvokeInternal(Object obj, Object parameters, Object arguments)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object parameters, CultureInfo culture)
   at Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller.CustomActionProxy.InvokeCustomAction(Int32 sessionHandle, String entryPoint, IntPtr remotingDelegatePtr)
CustomAction RestartService returned actual error code 1603 (note this may not be 100% accurate if translation happened inside sandbox)
Action ended 15:38:45: RestartService. Return value 3.

Looking at the RestartService action, I thought I'd open the services.msc and monitor the service status during the install. I found that the service was starting and then stopping - and then when it didn't stay running, the installer flagged a fail and rolled it back (thus deleting the service, and most of the evidence that would have been useful in solving this issue!).

I was able to get it to install by doing the following:

1. Start services.msc and scroll to the ones starting with O
2. Start the install
3. When the installer progress bar reaches the end, refresh services.msc and you will see a new service appear: "On-premises data gateway service", which will be stopped. If you try to start it, it will start and then stop (with no failure).
4. Edit the service's logon properties and change the logon account to a local admin.
5. Start the service. 
6. The installer finishes successfully.

Hope this helps!