"M Keeton" <MKeeton@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:12F209ED-C79E-45A0-A24E-CC0D13552966@microsoft.com...
> Thanks for that.
> Do you know if theres a sub key to "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL
> Server" that I could search for that would give me the names of the
> available
> SQL Server installations? This would be usefull as it would allow me to
> check
> if my instance has already been installed (and would therefore tell me
> that
> the connection error was more to do with the connection settings).
>
> "Jacco Schalkwijk" wrote:
>
>> You can check the registry for the existence of the
>> "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server" node to find if SQL Server
>> is
>> already installed. Strictly speaking, you should give your users the
>> option
>> to install MSDE even if an installation of SQL Server has been found, as
>> it
>> can be an installation of MSDE by a different application than your own,
>> and
>> sharing that MSDE instance between applications might cause problems, for
>> example conflicting database names.
>>
>> --
>> Jacco Schalkwijk
>> SQL Server MVP
>>
>>
>> "M Keeton" <MKeeton@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:C98CA0DA-3E00-44D3-A649-406BFB6F7A60@microsoft.com...
>> >I have a VB.NET application which connects to SQL Server using ADO.
>> > The problem I have is that I need the application to detect if SQL
>> > Server
>> > has not yet been installed on the local machine and if so give the user
>> > the
>> > option to run the MSDE installation.
>> >
>> > When connecting I get get the "SQL Server does not exist or access is
>> > denied" message out but this could mean that SQL Server is not
>> > installed
>> > or
>> > that the connection properties have just been entered incorrectly.
>> >
>> > Is there any way to specifically check if SQL Server is installed from
>> > within my VB.NET application.
>> >
>> > Thanks in advance for any help.
>> > --
>> > M Keeton
>>
>>
>>

"M Keeton" <MKeeton@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C98CA0DA-3E00-44D3-A649-406BFB6F7A60@microsoft.com...
>I have a VB.NET application which connects to SQL Server using ADO.
> The problem I have is that I need the application to detect if SQL Server
> has not yet been installed on the local machine and if so give the user
> the
> option to run the MSDE installation.
>
> When connecting I get get the "SQL Server does not exist or access is
> denied" message out but this could mean that SQL Server is not installed
> or
> that the connection properties have just been entered incorrectly.
>
> Is there any way to specifically check if SQL Server is installed from
> within my VB.NET application.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help.
> --
> M Keeton