MSDE Installation
Installing Microsoft Desktop Engine (MSDE SQL Server 2000)
This article follows on from the article titled "Installing SQL Server" and focuses on the installation of the free version of SQL Server 2000 which is the Microsoft Desktop Engine (MSDE). MSDE is a "Cut Down" version of SQL Server released by Microsoft as a direct competitor to open sources database solutions. The necessary software can be downloaded from Microsoft’s website.
Before We Begin
Pre-Install system configuration changes – some security setting need to be changed depending on what version of the Windows operating system you are using.
A MSDE 2000 Release A installation will fail if either of the following security policies has been set to "Do not allow installation":
- The Devices: Unsigned driver installation behavior local security policy for Windows XP.
- The Unsigned non-driver installation behavior local security policy for Windows 2000.
If you use the "Do not allow installation" setting, you must change it to silently succeed before installing MSDE 2000 Release A. If necessary, you can return the policy to its previous setting after the installation is complete.
NOTE "Do not allow installation" is not the default setting for these security policies.
To set these policies:
- In Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools.
- Double-click Local Security Policy.
- Expand Local Policies.
- Select Security Options.
- Ensure that the following option in the right pane is set to Silently Succeed before installing MSDE 2000 Release A:
- On Windows XP and Windows 2003: Devices: Unsigned driver installation behavior.
- On Windows 2000: Unsigned non-driver installation behavior.
- When installing MSDE 2000 Release A on a computer running Windows NT 4.0 SP6a, you must apply the hotfix described in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 258437.
MSDE Installation
Extract MSDE Setup Files
Extract the MSDE set-up files by double clicking on the MSDE2000A.exe this can be downloaded from the Microsoft website.
Accept the terms of use and specify a folder on a drive you have access too where the Install files should be unpacked to. Clicking on finish will unpack the necessary files.
Install New Instance of MSDE
To install a new instance of Desktop Engine:
Open a command prompt window.
From the command prompt, use the "cd" command to navigate to the folder containing the MSDE 2000 Release A Setup utility:
cd c:\MSDERelA here c:\MSDERelA is the path to the folder where you extracted the MSDE 2000 Release A files.
Execute one of the following commands:
To install a default instance configured to use Windows Authentication Mode, execute:
setup SAPWD="Password"
Where "Password" is a strong password to be assigned to the sa login.
To install a named instance configured to use Windows Authentication Mode, execute:
setup INSTANCENAME="InstanceName" SAPWD="Password"
Where Password is a strong password to be assigned to the sa login and InstanceName is the name to be assigned to the instance.
To install a default instance configured to use Mixed Mode, execute:
setup SAPWD="Password" SECURITYMODE=SQL
Where Password is a strong password to be assigned to the sa login.
To install a named instance configured to use Mixed Mode, execute:
setup INSTANCENAME="InstanceName" SECURITYMODE=SQL SAPWD="Password"
Where Password is a strong password to be assigned to the sa login and InstanceName is the name to be assigned to the instance.
Conclusion
MSDE is a very useful database tool. First and foremost it is free there is no license fee attached to it and it does not cost anything to download and install. Although it is "cut-down" version it does contain much of the functionality of other versions of SQL Server. However it does have some draw backs in that there are no easy to use client tools attached to MSDE. In order to use and manage this database server you need to have exceptional SQL Server skills in using OSQL or you need some custom made client tools that make managing MSDE installation simple and straight forward. MSDE Manager by Vale Software is an excellent tool that can be used to manage all versions of SQL Server including MSDE it is very competitively priced and allows you to have a full range of client tools features. Some later articles will discuss what can be achieved with both the SQL Server Client tools (Enterprise Manager and Query Analyser) and the MSDE Manager.
Click here for Product Information on MSDE Manager
Click here for Product Information on Express Agent