SQL Server September CTP and VS.NET RC are here!

 If you are subscribed to Microsoft Beta, you can downoad the SQL Server September CTP and Visual Studio Release Candidate (plan for a day or two given the 30K connection speed) from the Microsoft betaplace website.


Here are the steps I was taking to install both SQL Server CTP and Visual Studio.NET RC that you may find helpful. I had SQL Server 2005 June CTP and Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 installed prior to installing the new bits and the upgrade went fine for me. You may not need to be so reboot-oriented but I like to start from a clean state just in case J. 



  1. Uninstall SQL Server 2005 by running the Cleanup Wizard (Setup Tools\Build Uninstall Wizard\sqlbuw.exe on the SQL Server 2005 CTP CD). Make sure to select .NET 2.0 and Native Client (Microsoft SNAC) options.
  2. Reboot
  3. Remove all files from the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data folder.
  4. Uninstall VS.NET 2005.
  5. Reboot
  6. Go to Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel and remove the rest of the VS.NET 2005 and SQL Server 2005 components, including:



    • MSDN Product Documentation
    • Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Office System 2005 Runtime Beta 2
    • Microsoft Device Emulator 1.0 Beta 2
    • Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 2.0 Beta 2
    • Microsoft SQL Mobile 2005 Development Tools
    • Microsoft Visual J# Redistributable Package 2.0 Beta 2
    • Microsoft Visual J# Language Pack 2.0 Beta 2
    • MSXML 6.0 Parser and SDK
    • Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 64bit Prerequisites Beta 2 (Only on 64bit)
    • Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 SDK Beta 2 (Only on 64bit)
    • Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 64bit Remote Debugger Beta 2 (Only on 64bit)
    • Microsoft Data Access Components 2.8 SP1 (Only on Windows 2000)


  1. Install SQL Server 2005 CTP September Server components (D:\Downloads\SQL Server\CTP Sep\Servers\Setup.exe)
  2. Install SQL Server 2005 CTP September Server components (D:\Downloads\SQL Server\CTP Sep\Tools\Setup.exe)
  3. Reboot
  4. Install VS.NET 2005 RC
  5. Reboot
  6. Install Visual SourceSafe 2005 from the VS.NET DVD.

There are only a few breaking changes I have come across so far with the previous release. The VS.NET Unit test namespace have changes and the WinForm Report Viewer has dropped some properties.