Installation Problems in SQL Server 7.0

Alexander Chigrik
chigrik@hotmail.com

In this article I want to tell you about some problems, which you can have
when you install SQL Server 7.0, and how you can resolve these problems.

If you have problems with installation, check the following:

1. Check the hardware requirements.

You should have:

Alpha AXP, Intel or compatible platform
Pentium 166 MHz or higher (Pentium Pro, Pentium II and compatible)
32MB RAM (minimum), 64MB RAM and more (recommended)
180MB (full installation), 170MB (typical), 65MB (minimum),
  90MB (management tools only) plus 50MB for OLAP Services
  and 12MB for the English Query


2. Check the software requirements.

You should have:

For Desktop Edition:
Windows 95
Windows 95 OSR2
Windows 98
Windows NT Server/Workstation 4.0 with Service Pack 4
Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition
Windows 2000 (all editions)

For Standard Edition:
Windows NT Server 4.0 with Service Pack 4
Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition
Windows 2000 Server/Advanced Server/Datacenter

For Enterprise Edition:
Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition
Windows 2000 Advanced Server/Datacenter


3. Check the hardware compatibility list.

For more information about the specific supported hardware, look at the
hardware compatibility list at
http://www.microsoft.com/hwtest/hcl/


4. Login with the administrator level permissions on the machine.

SQL Server needs these permissions to create registry entries, create
services and so on.


5. Check that network card or Microsoft loopback adapter presents
   on the machine.

SQL Server needs to use network functionality, so you should have
network card, or dummy driver Microsoft loopback adapter, which
pretends to be a network card :)


6. Use the LocalSystem account for MSSQLServer and SQLServerAgent 
services.

You can change it later to appropriate account, and you will have more
chance to install SQL Server without problems.


7. Before reinstall SQL Server 7.0, delete the following registry 
entries:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSSQLServer
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SQLServerAgent
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server 7
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServ70

and delete the target installation directory (C:\MSSQL7 by default).


8. For upgrade from version 6.5, check that the default database for
   the login 'sa' is master.


9. You can stop some services, which can cause installation failure.

Stop the following services/close the following programs:

IIS - Internet Information Server
PWS - Personal Web Server
Exchange Server
SNA Server
Disk Keeper
SNMP Service

For more details see:
Troubleshooting SQL Installation and Connection Problems
Are there any extraneous services running, and do you have
network connectivity?
http://support.microsoft.com/support/SQL/Content/setup/setup1.asp?LN=EN-US&SD=SO&FR=0


10. For upgrade from MSDE to SQL Server 7.0, maybe necessary to edit
    some registry entries.

If you receive the following error:

You cannot install a version which is older (7.00.623) than the
version on your machine (7.00.677). Uninstall the older version.


then you should amend

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/MSSQLServer/MSSQLServer/CurrentVersion
to have a value of 7.00.623.

For more details see:
Q234915 - FIX: Upgrade to SQL Server Fails When MSDE Installed from MOD
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q234/9/15.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=SO&FR=0


11. For more details about installation errors see the following 
files:

sqlstp.log (located in your \Windows or \WinNT directory)
errorlog file (located in the \MSSQL7\Log directory)
cnfgsvr.out file (located in the \MSSQL7\Install directory)