Installing SQL 2005 Express on top of SQL 2000

I'm going to install the VS 2005 beta on one of my lab boxes here, and this machine already has SQL 2000 on it. What happens if I check to install SQL 2005 Express during the VS 2005 installation? Will it upgrade 2000 to 2005 or what?

I'm sure people has tried this out there, but if I don't get any response I'll just go ahead and try and see what happens :)

EDIT 1: Brilliant... Ok, first I installed VS 2005 and all the MSDN stuff, then I rebooted the machine and tried to add SQL 2005 Express. Problem is that it hung in the end (progress meter near 100%) and refused to finish. So I killed the setup process and had a look at the box. It looks like SQL 2005 was installed properly and everything. Just one thing I wonder now... and this sounds stupid maybe, but how do I know which database service I'm running against?? *confused*

EDIT 2: Ok, I'm almost there! I downloaded the SQL Server Express Books Online and I'm following the walkthrough to create a database app. To be cont.

EDIT 3: Right, I'm in! It was very easy once I got into it (as usual). 1) Install SQLExpress 2) Make sure SQLExpress service is started and you may also want to start the SQL Browser service and enable some of the other network protocols if you're not running locally only 3) Use your favourite SQL manager (like the server browser in VS 2005) and access the database instance by calling it .\SQLExpress or <computername>\SQLExpress.

*running off to try some of the new features*

6 Comments

  • Hi Johan, I've got SQL Server 2000 as well as SQL Server 2005 Express installed on my computer with no problems at all.



    So you should be fine! :)



    You can use both at the same time if you like... They live in two different processes!



  • As Johan, I have had no problems running SQL 2000 and 2005 on the same computer, BUT uninstalling SQL 2005 Express will delete some core files with the result that you can not use the Enterprise Manager for SQL 2000 anymore. Reinstalling SQL 2000 is not an option either. You have to uninstall the .NET framework first.

  • I have VS 2003, VS 2005 beta, SQL Server 2005 Express, and SQL Server 2000 all running on the same machine without a problem. I have no problems using Enterprisse Manager for SQL Server 2000



    The only issue I faced was getting my VS 2003 ASP.NET Applications working again after installing VS 2005 and SQL Server 2005. After running aspnet_regiis -r, and setting the application directory to use the 1.1 framework through IIS, I was back in business.



    -Mark

  • I guess I spoke too soon....I now get an error (&quot;Error 195: 'schema_name' is not a recognized function name&quot;), if I attempt to &quot;Manage Triggers&quot; in Sql Server 2000/Enterprise Manager.



    Rather silly of me to attempt installing the beta products on my primary development laptop. Trigger management is about the only task I don't normally do through query analyzer, so I guess it's time for me do digging through BOL.



    So, if I uninstall SQL Server 2005/VS 2005 Express, and then re-install SQL Server 2000, will Enterprise Manager function correctly again?

  • Last post...

    I should've read my first link a little closer. To fix the bugs with EM, You just need to navigate to the install directory Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\Binn directory and run &quot;regsvr32 sqldmo.dll&quot;.



    *Note that doing this will cause EM to not work with SQL Server 2005 Express.

  • Cool, thanks for all the info Mark. If I stumble into any strange stuff, I'll post it here.

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