Installing SQL 2008 on Windows 7

SQL Server 2008 on Windows 7

SQL Server 2008 will install on Windows 7 and it works just fine – although you may need to reboot Window 7 before successfully installing SQL Server 2008.

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Once you succeed in getting the installer to run, you will see the Program Compatibility Assistant appear with this warning:

It’s nothing to worry about. It’s just a friendly reminder that once the SQL Server 2008 installation completes, it must be followed up by an installation of SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 or later. Service Pack 1 is available here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=66ab3dbb-bf3e-4f46-9559-ccc6a4f9dc19

The version of Books Online that comes with SQL Server 2008 is outdated, so you might want to do a custom install and leave it out. The most current BOL is found here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=765433F7-0983-4D7A-B628-0A98145BCB97&displaylang=en

SQL Server 2008 doesn’t come with sample databases. Instead, they are obtained from Codeplex: http://www.codeplex.com/MSFTDBProdSamples

You can extend the spatial data functionality in SQL Server 2008 by installing these additional functions: http://sqlspatialtools.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?title=Current%20Contents. If you have MapPoint 2009 installed on a 32-bit OS, you might also be interested in this MapPoint add-in for SQL Server 2008: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=895c3de5-efc9-43a2-bd4e-7e4448c1fb96 (If you use 7-Zip to extract the files from the exe and then use Orca to remove the Launch Condition from the msi, you can install it on 64-bit systems but it won’t perform as well.)

Those last few items really don’t have anything to do with Windows 7, but since this post is about installing SQL Server 2008, I wanted to provide you with a comprehensive list.