The Problem: Cannot installed Azure CTP without SQL Express 2005 or 2008
The other day I tried to install Azure CTP on my machine but during the install got a fatal error:
“The SQL Server instance ‘.SQLEXPRESS’ could not be found. Please verify that SQL Express is installed and running” was the message as seen above and it stopped the installer in its tracks.
I quickly realized I must have missed a dependency so I looked in the read-me (located in C:\Program Files\Windows Azure SDK\v1.0\RelNotes.htm) file and sure enough here was what it said:
Either SQL Express 2005 or SQL Express 2008 is required to run the development storage services.
Funny enough I have the full version of SQL 2005 Developer edition installed on my laptop but I guess its simply not designed to work with it out of the box.
(Its also worth noting my laptop is running Windows Server 2008)
To make thing simple I decided to download/install SQL Express 2008 and not try to get the CTP working with the Standard edition.
SQL Express 2008, not so fast cowboy
Thinking this would be a quick and painless install I jumped right into it, but another dependency error would again stop me in my tracks. Windows PowerShell seemed missing and required for the installer to continue as seen below:
I did not see this as a big deal, if its needed why not install it. Without even stopping my SQL Express installer I went to the PowerShell download page after a quick live search but realized I was taking the wrong approach, PowerShell for Windows 2008 server that my laptop runs is not a separate download, but instead a feature I simply had to turn on.
I quickly went to “Turn Windows features on or off” and installed PowerShell. I then went back to my SQL Express installer window, hit Refresh and everything PASSED!. The install then continued without further issues.
Azure Install – Attempted #2
Now that PowerShell and SQL Express 2008 were in place my Azure CTP installed great. The installer found the Express instance and prompted me to create the assets needed for the “Development Storage” simulation.
Up and Running
After the install I was able to create a new ASP.NET Cloud website using the “Web and Worker Cloud Service” template. I am very excited to finally have this running on my machine and seeing what I can do with it for future demos and my own personal web development efforts. Its really an amazing time to be a developer!
Don’t Forget: Run as admin
Just don’t forget, to start debug you will need to start Visual Studio as “Administrator” by right-clicking on its icon and using the “Run as administrator” option or you’ll get an error.
Here are some screenshots: