MacLochlainns Weblog

While testing the MySQL Workbench migration tool, I needed to install Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express (the free one up to 8 GB of data). These are my notes on installing the product, and you can click on any image to see the full size resolution and details. (The approach using small snapshots on the left was suggested from somebody who uses the blog and felt these would be easier than large but slightly reduced image files.)

For MySQL readers, this was posted as part of a replicateable test case for Alfredo’s MySQL Workbench team. A Windows OS version of Bug 66516.

Installation Steps

For reference, I’ve already installed the pre-requisites of Windows PowerShell 2.0 and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. You’ll see that when you get to step #6.

1. The first screen gives you the appearance of a wizard format with the list of tasks on the left and the details on the right. Click the New SQL Server stand-alone installation or add features to an existing installation to install a copy of SQL Server 2012 Express with a sample database.

2. The Microsoft SQL Server 2012 installation firsts checks the rules for the installation. This screen lasts for about 20-30 seconds before you get the licensing dialog box.

3. There’s not much choice with this dialog but you must confirm you’ve read the license terms. If you want to keep Microsoft apprise about your platform leave the button check box enabled. It’s unchecked in my installation. 😉 After you address the check boxes, click the Next button to proceed with the installation.

4. This dialog should quickly scan for any product updates, which are minimal if you’ve downloaded the file from Microsoft’s download site. Mine was up to date and skipped downloading and extracting tasks. It does take a small amount of time to install the setup files, and you’re parked on this screen while that happens. Click the Install button to continue with the installation.

5. A second rule check runs to make sure anything from the software update is completed. Click the Next button to proceed.

6. This page presents the Features that you want installed. It installs everything but a local database by default. If you’re building a stand alone instance you should check the LocalDB check box.

7. After you check the LocalDB check box, the Features display shows that all features are selected. Click the Next button to continue.

8. This dialog lets you choose whether you install a default or named instance. You also provide the instance unique identifier (ID), and root directory. After making sure that’s completed, click the Next button ton continue.

9. This section lets you name and set Microsoft Service names for the database engine, reporting services, full-text filter daemon launche, and browser. My settings enable the database engine and reporting services as automatic, which means they start when the operating systems wakes. Click the Next button to continue with the install.

10. This dialog lets you set the authentication mode of Microsoft SQL Server. By default, Microsoft SQL Server uses Windows authentication mode. I recommend you opt for Mixed Mode by clicking the radio button and entering a password twice.

11. After entering the SQL Server Administrators’ password in the Server Configuration tab view, click the Data Directories tab to check the data directories.

12. On the Data Directories tab verify the installation directories. The 64-bit directory default root directory is: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\

13. After inspecting the Data Directories, click the User Instances tab and enable the Users are allowed to run a separate instance of the Database Engine check box.

14. Clicking the FILESTREAM tab, you click the Enable FILESTREAM for Transact-SQL access check box. This enables FILESTREAM for Transact-SQL. Click the Next button to proceed.

15. This dialog of the wizard lets you configure the reporting services. Click the Install and configure radio button and then the Next button to proceed.

16. This dialog lets you set the error reporting. Click the Send Windows and SQL Server Error Reports to Microsoft if you want to advise them of errors. After making your notification decision, click the Next button to proceed.

17. The installation program takes several minutes to run, and this is a copy of the progress dialog. After the installation completes, the program automatically advances to the completion dialog.

18. When everything succeeds you’ll see a dialog like the one on the left. Click the Close button to complete the installation.

19. Click on the Start button, choose All Programs, choose Microsoft SQL Server 2012, and choose the SQL Server Management Studio that launches the SQL Server 2012 login screen.

20. This launches the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio as an Administrator. This base image only displays the Object Explorer view.

21. Click the View Query button and it displays the SQL Query and Properties view.

Post Installation Configuration Step

After installing the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express Edition, I discovered that the pipe definition was incorrect and had to fix it, which was exactly like the fix for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 that I blogged about 3 years ago here.

If you want to set up databases that hold tables of their own as opposed to deploying everything in the dbo schema, you should read this post on configuring SQL Server 2012. It shows you how to create a database, user, and schema.

You’ll need to configure a Windows Data Name Source (DSN) for SQL Server, when you’re planning to connect Microsoft Excel to SQL Server or migrate data from SQL Server using MySQL Workbench.