Knowledge Base

How to install MSDE 2000

MSDE 2000 (Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine) can be installed as part of your overall installation. The current article explains how to do this. It uses a sample Tarma Installer project that can be downloaded from the Tarma web site:

Information about the MSDE 2000 redistributable (including its system requirements and licensing terms) can be found on the Microsoft web site as How to obtain and install SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000).

MSDE 2000 installer cannot be run from Windows Installer package

The MSDE installer provided by Microsoft uses Windows Installer (MSI) to install itself. As a result, it cannot be launched from another Windows Installer package; it must be run separately and Windows Installer must not be active while the MSDE installer runs.

The topic How to install MSDE by using the Windows Installer on the Microsoft web site explains this and suggests two alternative solutions:

The first alternative is not really a solution if MSDE is not already present, so we will concentrate on the second approach.

Installing MSDE with Tarma Installer

To install MSDE 2000 from a Tarma Installer (i.e., non-Windows Installer) package involves the following steps:

  1. Obtain the MSDE redistributable from Microsoft
  2. Add the MSDE files to your Tarma Installer project
  3. Run the MSDE installer during installation
  4. Optional: Add your own installer
    1. Install your own application from a Windows Installer package
    2. Install your own application as a Tarma Installer package
  5. Clean up the temporary files
  6. Finishing touches

1. Obtain the MSDE redistributable from Microsoft

The MSDE redistributable is available from the Microsoft web site under this URL:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=413744D1-A0BC-479F-BAFA-E4B278EB9147

  1. Download the MSDE2000A.exe file (or more recent) from this web site and store it on your computer.
  2. The MSDE2000A.exe file is a self-extracting archive. You must unpack the files in this archive by running MSDE2000A.exe and specifying a destination folder. We recommend that you unpack the files to a new folder somewhere near your Tarma Installer project. In the example below, we have unpacked the files to a new folder called MSDE2000A (please note the two subfolders under MSDE2000A):
  3. Read the information in the file ReadmeMSDE2000A.htm. It contains important tips about the MSDE prerequisites and the installation procedure.

2. Add the MSDE files to your Tarma Installer project

Next, you must add the MSDE files to your own Tarma Installer project, so they will be available during installation.

  1. Open your Tarma Installer project and go to the Files and Folders project page.
  2. Open the Temp folder and right-click on the <SessionID> folder underneath it.
  3. Choose Add Files from Disk... from the popup menu. This opens the Add Files to Project dialog box.
  4. Open the MSDE2000A folder (or whatever you called it) in the Add Files to Project dialog box. You should now see the first-level files and the two subfolders. In the dialog box, click Reset filter, then check the Include Setup files box, the Include subfolders box, and click Add with filter.
  5. The Bulk Import dialog box appears. In this dialog box, make sure that Assign to per-folder component is selected, then click OK.
  6. The files are now added (recursively) to the <SessionID> folder and are assigned to three different components: PreinstallFolder, Msi_xxxx and Setup_xxxx, where the xxxx parts are semi-random numbers.
  7. Go to the Features and Components project page and create a new feature, then set its attributes as shown below (in particular, set its Feature name to MSDE; see Feature attributes for details):
  8. Add the MSDE-related components (under the heading Components and Assemblies) to the new feature. You can do so by dragging the components with the mouse to the MSDE feature and dropping them there:
  9. Add a condition to the MSDE feature so it will not be installed if MSDE is already present on the target system:

    The Condition field uses the $fverpcmp runtime function to test for the presence of SQL Server 8.0 or later on the system. In that case, the feature is made unavailable. The location of the sqlservr.exe executable is obtained through a registry lookup under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Setup\SQLPath. The full conditional expression is: 
    <$fverpcmp(<@<HKLM>\Software\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Setup\SQLPath>\Binn\sqlservr.exe, 8.0)> >= 0

3. Run the MSDE installer during installation

For the actual installation of MSDE, you must add a custom action to your Tarma Installer project that runs the embedded installer. The procedure for this goes as follows.

  1. Go to the Tarma Installer - Action Sequences project page.
  2. Right-click on the MainInstall action sequence and select New Action > Run Program from the popup menu.
  3. Move the newly created Run Program action up in the list (you can use Ctrl+Up for this) until it appears immediately after the InstallFiles standard action.
  4. Set its attributes as shown in the following screen shot:
  5. Adjust the Arguments field as required. In particular, you must specify SAPWD=...password... (choose your own password here). For additional arguments, please consult the ReadmeMSDE2000A.htm file that is included in MSDE2000A.exe (see above).

4. Optional: Add your own installer

The previous steps take care of installing MSDE on the target system, if necessary. Depending on your installation scenario, you might also want to install your own application. We will discuss two common cases: installing your own application as a Windows Installer (MSI) package, and installing your application as a Tarma Installer native package.

4a. Install your own application from a Windows Installer package

If you have an installer for your own application as a Windows Installer (MSI) package, you can add it to the current project and install it after MSDE. This allows you to distribute a single package that contains both the MSDE installer and your own application.

To install an MSI package from the same project, follow these steps:

  1. Add your .msi file to the same Temp\<SessionID> folder on the Files and Folders project page as the MSDE files described earlier.
  2. Right-click on the new file, choose Assign to Component... from the popup menu, then create a new component in the Select Component dialog box that appears and click Select to assign the new file to this component.
  3. Go to the Features and Components project page and assign the new component to at least one of the features using drag & drop. Do not assign the component to the MSDE feature created earlier - that feature is not available if MSDE is already present on the target system!
  4. Go to the Tarma Installer - Action Sequences project page.
  5. Right-click on the MainInstall action sequence and select New Action > Run Program from the popup menu.
  6. Move the newly created Run Program action up in the list (you can use Ctrl+Up for this) until it appears immediately after the InstallMSDE action created earlier.
  7. Set its attributes as shown in the following screen shot:

    Note: You must adjust the Arguments field so it refers to your own .msi file instead of the fictitious MyInstall.msi.

4b. Install your own application as a Tarma Installer package

If you want to install your own application with Tarma Installer, you can simply extend the sample project discussed in this topic and use it as a normal installation project. Add the files, shortcuts, and any other settings as you normally would; as long as the MSDE elements discussed in steps 2 and 3 above remain intact, the installer will behave as expected.

5. Clean up the temporary files

The final step consists of cleaning up the MSDE installation files after use.

  1. Go to the Tarma Installer - Action Sequences project page.
  2. Right-click on the _ExitHandler action sequence and select New Action > Run Script from the popup menu.
  3. Set its attributes as shown in the following screen shot:

6. Finishing touches

To round off your installer, you might want to consider the following.

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Tarma Installer 5 User's Manual - Topic last modified on 2/07/08 15:29
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