I currently have SQL Server 2005 Express Edition installed on my system. I also have the Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Beta 1 installed, but while installing it I did not choose for SQL Server 2008 Express to be installed. So now I am going to try and install it separately. This post is about what I am doing on my system and the steps here may not work in your case. But still I am putting it up as a reference.
Go to the Microsoft Express editions site and click on download SQL Server 2008 CTP. Also back up your existing databases. One thing I have learnt in the industry is that it is never too expensive to keep backups. Always keep a backup, at least for those things that you feel are critical.
After you have downloaded the setup, when you execute it, the first screen you get is the EULA.
Read the License at least once. Most of us don't read and select the I accept terms checkbox and click next. By reading I do not mean understand each and every thing, but just skim through it once to see if it contains anything that might interest you. e.g The above License says that it is valid till July 25, 2008, which is not very far and that the software will stop working after 180 days since installation. These are things which caught my eye.
When you proceed you get the following screen.
I clicked on Install and then get the following screen.
I see the option of Upgrade SQL Server 2005 to 2008 which says I should run the Update Advisor first. I can't find the Update Advisor so I just select the option to see what happens. It opens a new windows where it checks my system. In the options on the left side of the Wizard I can see Select instance, meaning I would have to select my SQL Server 2005 Instance which I want to upgrade. Since I came across this post in ASP.NET forums, I am not sure that is what I want to do. Plus there is nothing wrong in having both the versions of SQL Server running as different Instances. At work, I have seen people with both SQL 2000 and 2005 on their systems. So I cancel the Wizard and then in the window above I select New Installation.
I get the System Configuration Check again which is Successful. But now on the left side in the steps, I DO NOT see Select Instance. So my guess is that this is going to install a new Instance of SQL Server 2008 and not do anything to SQL Server 2005 already alive and kicking. I click on Next.
I select all the options and click on Next. (Actually I had already clicked on Next and moved to the Next Step when I realized that I had not taken the screen shot of the step. So I moved to previous one to take the screen shot. But notice that in the steps on the left, the Next Step is already checked. A BUG!)
Instead of Default Instance, I select Named Instance and Give it a new name SQL2008CTP. I can see 2 existing Instances towards the bottom, one of which is SQL 2005 instance.
Next it is asking for the User Name and Password (Credentials) to configure the service. Provide the appropriate details. You are then shown the screen below for database engine configuration.
I chose the mixed mode authentication. I am no DB guy and I do this because one of my first mentors told me that always choose Mixed Mode.
I then get a screen above for sending data to MSFT. I click on Next.
I then get the summary of the Installation order.I click Install to begin the installation.
Above is a screen shot I took while the installation was in progress. Though the progress bar did not reach 100% the next button was enabled and the progress bar remained that way for quite some time so I just pressed next to go the following screen.
I then go to services.msc and check if the service has been installed.
As you can see, now there are three instances of SQL Server running. So SQL2008CTP seems to be running fine along with SQLEXPRESS which is SQL Server 2005 Express. I now go to SQL Server Management Studio Express but I cant find the 2008 CTP instance I just installed. So I think I should restart my computer once. It is always better to restart in my experience.
I restarted and checked but still I don't see the 2008 CTP instance in Management Studio Express, probably because the Management Studio Express is and older version and may not recognize newer versions of SQL Server. So now I open VWD 2008 Express Beta 1 and go to Database Explorer and try to add a new connection.
As expected I can see the 2008 CTP instance I installed. I provide the sa login and password and select tempdb database and test the connection and Voila!
So things seem to be working fine. Phew!
Hope this was helpful! Please comment if you have any queries.
