MSDE SP3a on a Server with SQL Server 2000 SP4

A few questions here.
1. I have noticed a problem when MSDE SP3a is installed on a server with SQL
Server SP4. The Registry key value SQLPath at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL
Server\80\Tools\ClientSetup loses the last character and that makes the path
to osql, invalid when executing a post replication script. It also breaks
accessing Query Analyzer and SQL Profiler from Enterprise manager among other
problems I'm sure. Is this a known problem? I can't seem to find any
reference to it anywhere in the KB, although that doesn't mean too much.
2. With the problem in question 1, is installing MSDE SP3a on a server with
SQL Server SP4 a supported thing to do? If not, is an installation program
supposed to deliver multiple versions of MSDE and decide at install time
which version is needed for the server in question? This poses a problem if
one releases software with the MSDE SP3a redist and a new service pack for
SQL Server/MSDE is release after. From what I can tell Microsoft doesn't
really handle this, i.e. Windows SharePoint Services comes with a version of
MSDE SP3a and I haven't seen an update to include MSDE SP4 yet.
3. Again following the previous questions, is it ok to install MSDE SP4 on
servers that have SQL Server 2000 SP2 or SP3a?
Thanks in advance for your time to answer my questions.
Paul
hi Paul,
Paul Degneau wrote:
> A few questions here.
> 1. I have noticed a problem when MSDE SP3a is installed on a server
> with SQL Server SP4. The Registry key value SQLPath at
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL
> Server\80\Tools\ClientSetup loses the last character and that makes
> the path to osql, invalid when executing a post replication script.
> It also breaks accessing Query Analyzer and SQL Profiler from
> Enterprise manager among other problems I'm sure. Is this a known
> problem? I can't seem to find any reference to it anywhere in the
> KB, although that doesn't mean too much.
I've reproduced your reported feedback on a Win2003 standard VMWare virtual
machine, updated at Windows update today fixes but Win2003 sp1...
after installing a default instance of SQL Server 2000 Dev Edition and
upgrading it to sp4 I've the reported registry entry..
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\ClientSetup
SQLPath = C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools
installing MSDE sp3 from the
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/downloads/2000/sp3.asp package resulted in the
reported behavior, truncating the SQLPath key to C:\Program Files\Microsoft
SQL Server\80\Tool (without "s") and of course inhibiting the call from
Enterprise Manager to launch QA and Profiler..
running oSql.exe from the command line works as expected... can not
understand the
>and that makes the path to osql,
>invalid when executing a post replication script.
but if the registry key is inspected to run oSql, of course it will fail...
just to test, I fixed the registry entry and installed MSDE from the MSDE
Release A package, http://www.microsoft.com/sql/msde/do.../download.asp,
with the very same result
as additional side note, unistalling the MSDE sp3 instance (that from
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/downloads/2000/sp3.asp package) cleared the
"Startup" folder from the "SQL Server Service Manager" link
I'll pass this "feature" to Microsoft support..

> 2. With the problem in question 1, is installing MSDE SP3a on a
> server with SQL Server SP4 a supported thing to do? If not, is an
> installation program supposed to deliver multiple versions of MSDE
> and decide at install time which version is needed for the server in
> question? This poses a problem if one releases software with the
> MSDE SP3a redist and a new service pack for SQL Server/MSDE is
> release after. From what I can tell Microsoft doesn't really handle
> this, i.e. Windows SharePoint Services comes with a version of MSDE
> SP3a and I haven't seen an update to include MSDE SP4 yet.
AFAIK, an updated version of MSDE Release A updated at service pack 4 has
been promised, but I've no idea about the time frame... about Share Point
WMSDE I do not really know... WMSDE is a specialised version of MSDE and I
expect an updated version will be available... but that's my opinion..
no refresh of SQL Server installation package has been publicised.. you have
to go from the standard path.. install the RTM version and then (manually)
install the desired service pack level (sp3 is the supported SQL Server 2000
version on Win2003 platform)
as regard MSDE, the currently available packages do not (for sure) grant you
a way to decide at run time the service pack level to be installed.. if you
choose sp4 there you are, the same for sp3...

> 3. Again following the previous questions, is it ok to install MSDE
> SP4 on servers that have SQL Server 2000 SP2 or SP3a?
>
actually it should be safe, but consider that installing sp4 updates all
shared bins (those in \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80 folder) to it's
service pack level, but MSDE does not include the full set of tools and bin
but a bunch of them like osql, bcp, svrnecn.exe, SQL-DMO components... a
little mix will be the result
on non Win2003/WinXP systems it will additionaly upgrade MDAC stack to
2.8sp1 (that from WinXP sp2), but this is another story...
but I do think, at the end of all this, that it has been tested
I'll foward the registry stuff ...
Andrea Montanari (Microsoft MVP - SQL Server)
http://www.asql.biz/DbaMgr.shtmhttp://italy.mvps.org
DbaMgr2k ver 0.12.0 - DbaMgr ver 0.58.0
(my vb6+sql-dmo little try to provide MS MSDE 1.0 and MSDE 2000 a visual
interface)
-- remove DMO to reply