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How to perform a command line installation of SQL Server 2005

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I was asked by a customer a while back about available options for performing silent installation of SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. I haven't had a lot of time to research this issue, and the only steps I knew were the ones used by Visual Studio setup to install SQL Express.

Now that I looked into this scenario a bit more, I found an MSDN document entitled How to: Install SQL Server 2005 from the Command Prompt that provides in-depth instructions regarding supported command line switches for SQL 2005 setup and steps for creating an automated installation answer file.

The instructions in this document will allow you to perform all of the following configuration tasks, plus several more that I didn't list:

  • Install a standalone SQL instance
  • Install a clustered SQL instance
  • Rebuilding SQL databases
  • Add/remove individual components
  • Add/remove nodes in a cluster
  • Uninstall a standalone SQL instance
  • Uninstall a clustered SQL instance

Please note that these instructions are generic and apply to all versions of SQL Server 2005. Some of the advanced configuration options are not supported by SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, so you will need to make sure to only attempt to install the Express Edition using switches and options that it supports.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    May 29, 2006
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    May 30, 2006
    Hi Qisope - I haven't heard of this issue before, but I had another customer post about a similar experience at http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2006/03/19/555326.aspx#605285.  I don't know whether or not this is intentional for SQL setup to behave that way, but I would suggest reporting this as a bug on the Product Feedback site (http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/productfeedback) and see what the SQL team has to say about this scenario.

    In the meantime, you might want to try to launch SQL setup using a wrapper batch file that you call from the RunOnce registry key and see if that can be used as a workaround.  Please let me know how it goes by posting a follow-up comment if you see this....
  • Anonymous
    June 13, 2006
    PingBack from http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/articles/574618.aspx
  • Anonymous
    July 18, 2007
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    August 30, 2011
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    August 31, 2011
    Hi Apeksha - I don't have enough expertise in how SQL Server setup works to be able to answer this question.  I'd suggest posting a question on the SQL Server Setup forum at social.msdn.microsoft.com/.../threads and hopefully someone there will be able to help.