Installing and Uninstalling Express Edition

Hi guys,

I'm trying to create a all-in-one installation package for my application which make use of the SQL 2005 Express edition. It seems that there's no way to roll my application MSI installation with the database engine, the only ways around this problem is to use a bootstrap exe to launch the sql setup before or after my main application's MSI. This works fine during installation and I have modified the original .NET framework bootstrapper to do just that.

The problem comes when uninstalling my application. Since the uninstall process is all done through the MSI engine, how would I take the sql instance with me during my application's uninstall? Since the sql engine is also based on MSI technology, I won't be able to do that during the removal step of my application's MSI, right? Any one know any "clean" ways around that? Besides not letting users uninstall my application directly from Add/Remove program and force them to call another exe simular to my installation bootstrap?

I'm considering to use 3rd party tools like InstallShields, but even them are recommending people to stay with the MSI technology which is where the problem is. I'm running out of ideas really fast...

Thanks in advance!

William

Hi,

Since my initial posting, I've been working on the command to uninstall a named instance of SQL Server 2005. I though it would help once I get my problem above solved, as it seems to be the next logical step.

It seems that from MSDN (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/909967), there isn't a way to automate this process neither. The command ARPWrapper.exe don't have (or I couldn't fine) parameter to specify the named instance I'm trying to remove. The switch "/REMOVE" just brings up a window letting user choose their instance to remove. Anyone knows if such a way exists?

As I've said before, I'm trying to package my .NET application with SQL Server 2005 Express Edition into one. So that users can install and uninstall from one place with minimal user intervention. It seems to be such a common task, but it's certainly not too intuitive.

William

|||I too want to have the ability to uninstall a named instance of SQL Server 2005 Express SP2 from the command prompt in silent mode? You were you able to find a solution?sql