Upgrading a MSDE to SQL 2005 Express

[bubarooni1]

Hi All,

I'm attempting to upgrade an instance of msde on a box that has an instance of SQL 2005 Express on it. I'm following a doc I found on MS's website but am still running into a wall.

I've tried to accomplish this several times but it always fails to successfully complete because the Microsoft SQL Server Native Client is already installed as part of the 2005 Express instance.

I started to uninstall the Microsoft SQL Server Native Client but receive an ominous warning that other services or programs depend on it and if I uninstall the client it might blow up the whole server room. Well, something close to that...

Anyway, if I go ahead and uninstall the Native Client and then preform the MSDE instance upgrade it is going to reinstall the Native Client and make everything happy again?

The two things that I'm concerned about are SQL Server Management Studio Express (I can always uninstall it and then reinstall so not that big a deal) and the existing SQL 2005 Express install. I don't wanna break that as it is being used daily by about 15 people pretty intensively.

Thanks In Advance

 

[bubarooni1]

dang...

i guess i'll just give it a whirl and see if breaks or not.

 

[drtree]

Hi - when you initiate the installation for SQL Server 2005, it'll install the Native Client as part of it's own installation, so you should be fine.

 

[bubarooni1]

Well, that part seemed to work (uninstalling the sql native client and reinstalling), but now at the very end of the upgrade process it's cr*apping out on me at the very end, when it is installing and configuring 'SQL Server Database Services'

TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Setup
------------------------------

SQL Server Setup failed to execute a command for server configuration. The error was [Microsoft][SQL Native Client][SQL Server]CREATE DATABASE failed. Some file names listed could not be created. Check related errors.. Refer to the server error logs and Setup logs for detailed error information.

------------------------------

With that CREATE DATABASE failed message, is this some type of permissions problem?

 

[drtree]

Check this out -

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935371.

It looks like it might have something to do with the length of the path...

Dr Tree

 

[bubarooni1]

Dang it...

That kb aricle describes the exact problem. The default install path was 60 characters which described the problem (>58 chars) perfectly and the errors I get are to the T as well.

I tried to change the script like it said to no avail. I also changed the install path so that it was only 39 characters to no avail.

The install log is 14.5 Mb's! It is total greek to me to boot. Is there something I should be looking for in there?

 

[bubarooni1]

OK, I'm outta time. How about this as a way around my predicament:

I install SQL 2005 Express as a new instance.

I move all data from MSDE to the new SQL 2005 Express instance.

When I look in Server Management Studio Express for the MSDE instance I see:

Databases
Security
Server Objects
Replication
Management

Do I need to move them all? If so how do I go about that?

Thanks