MSSQL 2005 Express Edition Can Work on Windows XP Home Edition SP2

Image via WikipediaMSSQL 2005 Express Edition, a free edition of MSSQL 2005 database from Micrsoft, can actually work on Windows XP Home Edition SP2.

Check out the hardware and software specification from Microsoft. (MSSQL 2005 Express edition with advanced services is considered to be doubtful on Windows XP Home Edition SP2.)

But I tell you it works! And make sure it is SP2. You don't need IIS pre-installed unless you want to run reporting services. And make sure .NET 2.0 framework is present. If you need Management Studio, make sure IE version is at least 6.0 or above.

I got it install into a PC with the following specs:

XP Home Basic SP2
Celeron (R) CPU 2.00 GHz 632 MB Ram

Microsoft SQL Server Native Client Problem:

If you experienced problem with 'Microsoft SQL Server Native Client cannot be found', then check out solution here.

Basically, what you need to do is to:

1. Extract to a specific location (Make sure you run the proper Winrar exe).
2. Look for the file 'sqlncli.msi', run it and select 'remove'.
3. Then reinstall MSSQL-Express 2005 again with the main installer.

Problem installing SQL Server 2005 fails on MSXML6

If you experienced problem with 'Installing SQL Server 2005 fails on MSXML6 ' then check out the forum here and solution here.

Basically, you need to run Windows Installer Cleanup Utility and reinstall everything again.

Conclusion:

Next time when installing MSSQL 2005 Express edition, do the following.

1. Extract the installation package (it is actually a zip file) using external compression software like Winrar into a designated folder.
   
2. From the folder, run the setup.exe.
   

This will prevent the problem with Native Client and MSXML6 from happening.

This uncertainty took me almost one day of working time.

So, MSSQL 2005 Express Edition Can Work on Windows XP Home Edition SP2 actually.