Thanks Riaan.
I am not importing the dummy content; actually skipping setup at install. Tried installing dot 12 – after deleting all plugin files and the associated tables – and got the same weird error.
Also generating some log errors, like this …
WordPress database error Duplicate key name ‘location_type_code’ for query ALTER TABLE wp_woocommerce_tax_rate_locations ADD KEY location_type_code
(location_type
(40),location_code
(90)) made by activate_plugin, do_action(‘activate_woocommerce/woocommerce.php’), WP_Hook->do_action, WP_Hook->apply_filters, call_user_func_array, WC_Install::install, WC_Install::create_tables, dbDelta, referer: https://WWW.MYSITE.COM/wp-admin/plugins.php?plugin_status=all&paged=1&s
Install otherwise seems unaffected, but such a sketchy error on a production site raises the risk aversion level here.