Manually uninstall sql server 2008

Question

I Installed sql server 2008 on windows 7 professional but after installation the sql server service would not start.  After researching online the error for service start error (something about trying to start on the E: drive instead of C:) the answer was to reinstall.  so I uninstalled sql server then while reinstalling it hung at about 3/4 of the way.  I did not want to kill the process so I let it sit overnight.  In the morning it was still at 3/4 so I killed the process.  When I opend the services I noticed that the sql server service was installed and running, but when I tried to connect via cmd or Management Studio it just hung.  no error or time out.  so I tried to uninstall it again. now when I try to uninstall it it hangs at "Running Validation Timing" and "SqlEnginConfigAction_remove_validation_Cpu32".   As you can imagine I pretty annoyed with the whole process and just want to rip sql server out compleltly but can't find any information on removing it manually. 

Is there anyway to manually uninstall sql server (delete directory, registry keys, uninstall services etc...)?

Thanks,

Jeff

Answer 1

Hello,

Please see the following thread:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlsetupandupgrade/thread/3974daa9-9da1-46d9-8001-57b8517d3470?prof=required

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Alberto Morillo
SQLCoffee.com

Answer 2

Thanks, but it seems all the command line uninstall (referenced in a link from the thread link above) does is launch the uninstaller.  It still hangs in the same spot.  I think something is currupt and because of that I can't install or uninstall.  I need a way to remove everything manually because the uninstaller does not work.

Just in case anyone is keeping score, this is the 3rd machine that sql 2008 has screwed up.  One of them even caused us to open an msdn support ticket for but even the MS tech's could fix it completely.  I'm really losing faith in this product.

 

Thanks anyway

Jeff

Answer 3

Hello,

Please use the following utility:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/290301?p=1

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Alberto Morillo
SQLCoffee.com

Answer 4

I ran the installer clean up application, removing everything with sql server 2008 in the title. However it doesn't really remove anything except the ability to use the uninstaller for the cleaned applications.  Meaning, it did not remove any sql server componets just the uninstaller.  When I tried to reinstall the default instance was still there. so I attempted to create a new instance but the installation hung in the same spot.  I can't believe that there is not a way to manully completely uninstall sql server 2008. 

Thanks for the help.  I guess I'll wait another day and see if I can find something. If not I'll just have to reinstall windows.

Jeff

Answer 5

Hello, I've found a way that worked for me with Windows 7 Pro and SQL Server Express 2008 R2:

1) Uninstall all SQL Server componenents, if necessary use Installer Cleanup

2) Delete all files in installation folders

3) MOST IMPORTANT POINT: since uninstall will NOT delete tracks of SQL Server instance(s), you have to remove those manually from the registry. This involve deleting a lot of keys, therefore I suggest using free REGEDITX (http://www.regeditx.com/) that worked wonderfully. Use the "RegEditX Crawler" menu to search all "SQLEXPRESS" and/or any other created instance, select all keys and delete in one go. I've also deleted all keys containing the path of SQL Server installation.

NOTE: pay attention on NOT deleting keys that belongs to other components like .NET Framework, ODBC....

I didn't find a solution for reinstalling SQL Server, therefore I've decided to leave a track for future needs.

Paolo

Answer 6

Hello,

Read Uninstalling SQL Server 2008 article which is a step by step guide that can be used by database administrators to uninstall SQL Server 2008 manually. You can also refer the following thread.

Hope that Helps!

Thanks
Ashish Kumar Mehta

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