MSDE hangs on Install

First off, let me say it took me nearly all day to get this working. When you download the sql2decksp3.exe you might think it install like any other program. No. This exe simply unpacks the setup files. The actual setup program, setup.exe must be run from a DOS command prompt... so you've got to look up the correct command line parameters in the sp3reademe.htm file. Something like:

setup INSTANCENAME="InstanceName" SECURITYMODE=SQL SAPWD="AStrongSAPwd"

No problem so far, but then when I go to run the setup.exe with the correct parameters the install goes fine until the last 5 seconds. Then hangs. Again and again. The install program keep getting hung up just before the finish. Each time I had to uninstall and reinstall-- 6 times. When if it hangs you've got to break out with the Task Manager, then do an uninstall from the Control Panel... if... an entry there was created. It usually is.

I tried everything I could think of and then did a search here. There were a few messages. The only one who actually got past this problem said he deleted all references for "Microsoft SQL" in the registry. I tried that too. It didn't work for me. That setup hung in the very same place. Then instead of breaking out and starting again, I tried shutting the machine down, while the setup was hung, thinking that maybe after a restart the installation might continue AND and that point the install completed.

Hope these notes help the next person who runs into the same problem. I also tried putting the modem on standby and disabling Norton anti-virus. Alone that did help, but when I tried all this stuff together... finally at 4:34 PM, I was able to establish a connection, from both VB.NET and with a great FREE MS SQL Manager at http://sqlmanager.net/products/mssql/manager/download

Now I can start. For some reason, the way I think... I can't do any coding until the entire database spec is first set up. Then you write all the add, edit, display and sort form, windows. When designing web applications, you design the database first, then each web form preforms some unique operation or reference on the remote database. I think that's the way it works.

Hey! Hope this helps others.

Paul TownsendSometimes verbose logging can help to pinpoint installation problems:

setup INSTANCENAME="InstanceName" SECURITYMODE=SQL SAPWD="AStrongSAPwd" /L*v c:\MSDEInstall.log

Terri