SQL 2008 Install Blocked on Express Tools but actually due to SQL Prompt

Having successfully installed SQL 2008 on my laptop I was looking forward to a smooth install on my main PC however it was not to be. Having gotten pretty much to the end of setup it failed on the SQL 2005 Express Tools rule. Now I know I've never installed SSMS Express on this PC so I went digging through the logs. Once of the nice features of setup is an html log showing the results of all the checks carried out. In this case it merely confirmed that setup thought I had the Express Tools installed as shown below

After digging through the log files I came across one called Detail.txt which has details of the rules being run by setup. As can be seen from the log below, it was checking for the presence of the SQL Express Tools by querying the registry key SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\ShellSEM

Slp: Initializing rule      : SQL Server 2005 Express tools
Slp: Rule applied features  : SSMS;Adv_SSMS
Slp: Rule is will be executed  : True
Slp: Init rule target object: Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.SetupExtension.Sql2005SsmsExpressFacet
Slp: Sco: Attempting to create base registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, machine
Slp: Sco: Attempting to open registry subkey
Slp: Sco: Attempting to open registry subkey SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\ShellSEM
Slp: Rule 'Sql2005SsmsExpressFacet' detection result: SQL 2005 Ssms EE installed=True
Slp: Evaluating rule        : Sql2005SsmsExpressFacet
Slp: Rule evaluation done   : Failed
Slp: Rule evaluation message: The SQL Server 2005 Express Tools are installed. To continue, remove the SQL Server 2005 Express Tools.

Checking the registry I find that the key does indeed exist and in fact was added by the install of Redgate SQL Prompt 3.5 as shown below

 

Uninstalling SQL Prompt allowed the SQL 2008 installation to complete successfully (another option would probably have been to export the ShellSEM key, delete it, install SQL 2008 and then restore it).

So the lesson is, if you are getting tripped up by the Express Tools check and are sure you've never installed them, check the registry to see if some SSMS addin has added the key that setup is checking for.

Update Please note that this issue is only caused by older versions of SQL Prompt. If you have upgraded to SQL Prompt 3.9 you won't be affected by this issue. This is a free upgrade for users of SQL Prompt 3.x and is available from Redgate here with full support for SQL 2008

Published 14 August 2008 19:47 by sqldbatips
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Comments

15 August 2008 12:09 by bart.read

# re: SQL 2008 Install Blocked on Express Tools but actually due to SQL Prompt

Hi Jasper,

Sorry for the hassle you had.

It's also worth pointing out that you can safely delete the ShellSEM registry key you've highlighted because it's only there in order to allow SQL Prompt to work in SSMSEE; deleting it won't affect any other part of SQL Prompt's functionality. Obviously, if you did have SSMSEE installed, deleting this registry key would be a bad idea, and in that case you should uninstall and reinstall SQL Prompt. Also, if you're uncomfortable with editing the registry manually, this is safest option.

Anyway, I doubt you'll be the only person who runs into this so I'll suggest making it a knowledgebase article on our support site.

I should also say that SQL Prompt 3.5 is now quite old, and doesn't support SQL Server 2008. The latest version, which is a free upgrade if you've previously purchased SQL Prompt 3.x, is 3.9, and includes support for SQL Server 2008, 2005 and 2000. Unfortunately we've had to drop support for SQL Server 7 because to support 2008 we had to make some breaking changes to our meta-data model.

Hope that helps.

Thanks,

Bart

15 August 2008 12:09 by tanya

# re: SQL 2008 Install Blocked on Express Tools but actually due to SQL Prompt

Hello,

I apologise for this issue. SQL Prompt v3.9 (available for download from www.red-gate.com) addresses this problem and no longer blocks the installation of SQL server 2008. Also, the latest SQL Prompt v3.9 supports SQL Server 2008.

Excuse for any inconvenience caused because of this issue.

Tanya Joseph

Red Gate Software Ltd

15 August 2008 12:24 by bart.read

# re: SQL 2008 Install Blocked on Express Tools but actually due to SQL Prompt

Even better!

15 August 2008 15:11 by sqldbatips

# re: SQL 2008 Install Blocked on Express Tools but actually due to SQL Prompt

Thanks for the info, I have updated the post to indicate that users should upgrade to 3.9. Personally I think SQL setup should be doing a slightly deeper registry check

29 April 2009 16:37 by anyoneis

# re: SQL 2008 Install Blocked on Express Tools but actually due to SQL Prompt

This one didn't work for me, but looking for "SQL Express Tools" was a red herring - my bugaboo program was "SQL Server Managment Studio Express." I uninstalled that and was able to proceed.

David

09 February 2010 14:04 by bjornasman

# re: SQL 2008 Install Blocked on Express Tools but actually due to SQL Prompt

I had the same problem but this time it was SQL Search 1.0 that was the problem. I uninstalled it and everything worked perfect.

/b

11 March 2010 20:19 by SQL Server 2008 failing install on SQL Server Express 2005 | SQLing

# SQL Server 2008 failing install on SQL Server Express 2005 | SQLing

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06 April 2010 16:58 by addisuhg

# re: SQL 2008 Install Blocked on Express Tools but actually due to SQL Prompt

Thanks for the tip...

When i check my Registry, mine was something different; SSMT Tools package. I uninstall that and 2008 Installation is successful.

14 May 2010 14:17 by Upgrading to SQL 2008 R2 | SQLAndy

# Upgrading to SQL 2008 R2 | SQLAndy

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27 May 2010 17:56 by Arke Systems Blog

# SQL 2008 Won

SQL 2008 Won