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SQL Server 2005 Express Installation Woes

I needed to do a fresh install of SQL Server 2005 Express yesterday, and no matter what I tried the installation kept failing with really strange errors about invalid or missing MSI files. The solution? Manually extract the installer files to a temporary folder and then run the extracted setup, that fixed it. To extract installer files execute the installer on the command line with arguments /x:path (for example, /x:c:sqltemp).

4 responses to “SQL Server 2005 Express Installation Woes”

  1. rodrigo Avatar
    rodrigo

    hi, i installed it too last week and had problems finding the "enterprise manager".. were you able to find it or some equivalent tool?
    thanks!

  2. Ben Forta Avatar
    Ben Forta

    Yes, you mean Management Studio, and I do have it installed. There are multiple download options for Express, read the description for them, I seem to recall that the basic download did not include Studio. Also, you need to select that option during the install, it may not be selected by default.
    — Ben

  3. rodrigo Avatar
    rodrigo

    thank you very much, i’m going to give it a try.

  4. swavek Avatar
    swavek

    I tried tried extracting it to a separate path and then running the setup from there, but it still fails on three components (Native Client, Server DB Services, Workstation Components). It baffles me–I tried it on two different, completely unrelated systems. Any other ideas?

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