SQL 2005 components and Windows XP SP3

I recently was involved in a deployment where certain PC's would not install SQL 2005 components.  This included Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) 2005, for users who needed to write custom reports, and SQL 2005 Express, for users of Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook with offline access.

The one thing all of these PC's had in common was they were all Windows XP running Service Pack 3.

After removing service pack 3, we were able to successfully install SQL 2005. After that, we could reinstall XP SP3, and SQL would continue to work.

It appears that SP3 adds protection to the component MSXML 6, so it cannot be installed/updated/deleted.

For the offline client, you can also install SQL 2008 Express--this installs fine on XP SP3, and will work even if your CRM database is SQL 2005.  For more details, see Installing CRM for Outlook Offline with SQL 2008 Express.

 

Comments

[ty]

You are correct. XP SP3 locks MSXML 6. What you can do is to download Windows Install Clean Up from Microsoft. Use it to uninstall MSXML 6 and then install SQL 2005. SQL 2005 will reinstall MSXML 6.

Happy hunting.