How to install SQL 2005 Express Edition

SQL 2005 is Microsoft’s database server product. It competes with Oracle, DBase, MySQL and other database server applications. If you want to learn how to make databases using SQL 2005, the free Express edition is a good starting point.

Compared to MySQL, SQL 2005 has more features and suits perfectly with .NET code and MS Office scripts. Unlike Oracle’s express edition, it is easier to manage and is lighter to run too.

First down the installed from Microsoft’s website here. The installer file is only 54MB so it won’t take too long to download. Double click to run the installer and follow the installation wizard.

Hit next until you reach the feature selection window. I usually just choose the default but you might want to install the other components as well to benefit from them later.

The next step is the authentication mode. I will advise to choose Mixed Mode in a critical project where engineering data needs to be secured. Otherwise I just chose Windows Authentication mode which allows data to be accessed by users authenticated on my Windows system.

The next screen will ask if you want to enable other users to run another instance of SQL server, uncheck all boxes if you want to use only one SQL server instance using the administrator account.

Click the next button until you reach the setup progress window. This could take a few minutes to run.

After the steps above are done you may now use your newly installed SQL Server program. In the next post I will show you how to connect to it using client software like Enterprise Manager and Visual Studio Express.

With SQL 2005 Express edition you can create up to a 4GB database file. This is more than enough for most record keeping requirements of a small business enterprise. The good thing about the Express edition is that it is fully transferable to the full studio version so you won’t have to worry about porting a development database from express to a full blown SQL server system.