need sql 2000 (developer) to work on new windows 10 development machine

  • I have been working on a win2012r2 machine as a development machine. We have sql 2000 developer edition. We definitely need to upgrade, soon, to at least sql2005, for our application, but this will take a lot of regression testing and research. In the meantime we need to stay with 2000.

    I was asked to build a new development machine with windows 10, which I did. I tried to install sql 2000 today on that windows 10 64 bit machine and I got various "initialization" errors. I've seen various postings about some very tedious steps / workarounds to make this work... not sure I want to go down that road.

    Another approach I am considering is installing the hyper-v role on the desktop machine and making an older OS vm on the desktop machine. I only have limited experience with hyper-v and that's in a server environment, but it seems like it should be a good workaround.

    If necessary I can go back to windows 8 or 7, but I'd really rather not, unless absolutely necessary.

    Any recommendations on how to handle this situation would be appreciated. Thanks.

  • I don't think there's any way that SQL 2000 will install on Windows 10 (or Windows 8, or Windows 7). Get a hypervisor (Hyper-V, VMWare Player, VirtualBox), install an older OS (Server 2003 R2 should work if you can find it) and stick SQL 2000 on that.

    And when you upgrade, don't go to SQL 2005 (which has been out of support for over 5 years). Go to SQL 2016. You're going to need to test extensively and fix what's broken no matter what you upgrade to, may as well upgrade to something from this decade. 🙂

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • Thanks for the recommendation. I was already heading in that direction and just wanted some confirmation that it was the best approach. Windows 10 lets me just install the hyper-v role - so I will do it that way.

    About 6 months ago I was doing some testing in trying to upgrade the app to use 2016 and I ran into some issues, but I don't remember what they were at the moment. I had tentatively concluded that I needed to use 2005 as an interim step. I will retrace my steps and hopefully resolve whatever my issue was.

    GilaMonster (8/31/2016)


    I don't think there's any way that SQL 2000 will install on Windows 10 (or Windows 8, or Windows 7). Get a hypervisor (Hyper-V, VMWare Player, VirtualBox), install an older OS (Server 2003 R2 should work if you can find it) and stick SQL 2000 on that.

    And when you upgrade, don't go to SQL 2005 (which has been out of support for over 5 years). Go to SQL 2016. You're going to need to test extensively and fix what's broken no matter what you upgrade to, may as well upgrade to something from this decade. 🙂

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