I am trying to install Microsoft Accounting 2008 Express, which requires installing SQL Server Express 2005. I have a Vista Home Premium machine and it's giving me fits trying to get SQL Server (any flavor) installed.

I've tried every tweak I can find online, but all to no avail. I've run the WMI Diagnositics Tool, but I have no idea how to read the output. The same goes for the install log in the Bootstrap Setup folder.

Has anyone on here been able to get this to work?

Might want to try disabling UAC, disabling antivirus, and installing the most minimal set of options to start with. Also make sure you have vista sp1.

If all that fails, can you post some error messages or event log errors?

I've got the logs at home from the install attempt. I've already disabled UAC by default. No antivirus installed presently and I tried the option of disabling all non-Microsoft services, rebooted and tried again. The log files are huge - will they post here if they're large?

not for sure on the file size limits, if you could just post a few errors or last error encountered. Did you install vista sp1 yet?

And one more thing, did you install visual studio 2008 on the machine?

Yes, VS 2008 Pro is installed on this machine.

Then if vs2008 is installed you already have sql express installed. I think the workstation components caused an issue.

Go into programs and features, select sql server 2005, and click uninstall then select workstation tools and complete that piece of the uninstall.

Then you should be able to run the install for sql server.

SQL Server 2005 Backward compatibility
SQL Server 2005 Books Online
SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP1
SQL Server Native Client
SQL Server Setup Support Files
SQL Server VSS Writer
SQL Server System CLR Tpes
SQLXML4

This is everything that says SQL in my programs.

Is it a possibility to remove these sql files and start with a fresh install?

Certainly. Should I remove both Visual Studios also?