Re-installing SQL Server Express

I recently posted this question in the SQL Server Express forum and it was suggested I also post this issue to this forum. In the hope that someone can shed some light on the problem.

A couple of days ago I installed SQL Server Express and it seemed to be running fine. (I've not really had a lot of time to devote to trying it out).

Today I decided to remove the software as I noticed it placed various components on differnet drives (my fault, I think). Anyway I removed everything using Add/Delete Progams and then deleted any folders left behind.

Now I try a fresh install of SQLEXPR_ADV and I get as far as the "Instance Name" dialog and use the default Named instance of SQLEXPRESS and then click Next.

The next dialog box appears with the heading "Existing components". The three check boxes are grayed out. So I click the Details button and the following is presented on screen:

Name: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (SQLEXPRESS)
Allowed Action: Maintain (Action is only available from Add or Remove Programs)
Reason: Cannot maintain product, to maintain the product go to Add or Remove Programs

Name: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services (SQLEXPRESS)
Allowed Action: Maintain (Action is only available from Add or Remove Programs)
Reason: Cannot maintain product, to maintain the product go to Add or Remove Programs

Name: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Tools
Allowed Action: Maintain (Action is only available from Add or Remove Programs)
Reason: Cannot maintain product, to maintain the product go to Add or Remove Programs

It has been pointed out that the following services should have been stopped prior to removal.

SQL Server Active Directory Helper

SQL Server Browser

SQL Server FullTest Search (SQLEXPRESS)

SQL Server Reporting Services (SQLEXPRESS)

Surely this should be managed by the Add/Remove process!

I was able to successfully re-install the program as long as I created a new instance.

What should be the correct process to remove SQL Server Express and if necessary how do I remove services if they do not get deleted?

TIA

Steve

Hmmmm.... for some reason the discovery process is still finding existing components from your original install. When you click on the report button from Add/Remove Programs, do the original install components show up? I'll try to repro it here to see if I hit it. Are both versions SP1? And what is your OS & SP level?

Thanks,
Sam Lester (MSFT)

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It could be that the registry entries for the install were not cleaned up correctly, since those services should have been cleaned up by add and remove. There could be multiple reasons, account access could be one of them. Are you sure the same account that installed it was used to uninstall it (or an account with similar privileges)?

Thanks

|||I'm trying to add/remove SQL Server Express via command line. I can successfully install using

sqlexpr.exe /q /qn INSTANCENAME=myinstance DISABLENETWORKPROTOCOLS=0 ADDLOCAL=SQL_DataFiles,Connectivity

My goal is to uninstall just the 'myinstance' instance, and leave other instances alone, so I use

sqlexpr.exe /q /qn INSTANCENAME=myinstance REMOVE=SQL_Data_Files

On the surface, this seems to work. However, when I attempt to re-run the install, the attempt fails, informing me that the instance 'myinstance' already exists. I checked the registry, and discovered a lot of references to 'myinstance' are still there (I stopped counting at a half-dozen). And it seems to make no difference whether I run 'REMOVE=SQL_Data_Files' or 'REMOVE=ALL'.

So I too would like to know of a reliable way to remove a specific instance from a SQL Server Express install so that no traces of that instance remain behind.

|||

Without having the details of the configuration, I do not know what could be the issue related to install/unistall. However, the following link provides full details on how to install and uninstall from a command prompt. Please try and let me know if it helps:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144259.aspx#uninstallscripts

Regards,

sql