Facts about how SQL Server 2008 setup works...

In order to install, upgrade, uninstall, and patch the sql server 2008 instance on the system we need to call the setup.exe from the installation media.

The setup.exe is an unmanaged code which checks the basic pre-requisites to launch the actual Setup process. The basic pre-requisite checks performed by setup.exe are below,

1) It checks for the presence of the .Net Framework with SP1. If not present, it will initiate the installation of the .Net Framework with SP1.

Note: The setup during the installation of .Net Framework 3.5 might say “Downloading from Internet”. However it loads the setup from local copy and does not connect to Internet hence saving some valuable time.

2) It checks for the presence of the Windows Installer 4.5 and if it is not present it will install it.

After installing these pre-requisites, it asks for a reboot. And if there is any pending reboot operation from previous installation, it will ask for reboot and exit with error code 3010.

The Logs for the setup.exe (unmanaged code) is located in %temp%sqlsetup*.log.

After the initial bootstrapping performed by setup.exe, it calls the setup100.exe which is managed code and it performs the setup process for the SQL Server 2008...

Watch out this space for more interesting facts...

Parikshit Savjani
SE, Microsoft SQL Server