Installing Microsoft SQL Server

Prerequisites

SQL Setup consists of 2 stages. In the first stage, SQL Server installation is performed. After SQL installation, SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio) is installed. Read SQL Server Requirements for supported SQL Server versions. It is important for a healthy and safe operation that the SQL Server software is at the latest update level.

Download

This article describes the installation of SQL Server 2022 Express edition. It can be downloaded from the SQL Server 2022 Express Edition Download page. This file is the express installation file and it needs an internet connection on the server where it is run. If the server to be installed does not have internet access, it is run on a computer with internet access and the offline installation file can be obtained from this computer. In the example below, the setup file is downloaded to the folder named SetupMedia on the C drive. The setup file can be run with the following parameters.

C:\SetupMedia\SQL2022-SSEI-Expr.exe /Action=Download /MediaType=Advanced /MediaPath=C:\SetupMedia /HideProgressBar /Quiet /Language=en-US

SQL Server Express Download Successful screen

Setup SQL Server 2022 Express Edition

1. After the SQL Server express setup file is downloaded, run setup file with the "Run As Administrator" command.

2. Confirm the Extract folder by clicking OK. You can optionally show a different folder path.

Extract Folder

1. Click "New SQL Server standalone installation" on the SQL Server 2022 Installation Center screen.

New Installation

1. Accept the license terms and click Next.

1. Deselect the Azure Extension for SQL Server option. Click Next

1. On the Feature Selection screen, the Database Engine and Full Text options remain selected. Others do not need to be selected. Click Next.

Feature Selection

1. Default Instance is selected on the Instance Configuration screen. optionally, a different name can be specified, the default SQLEXPRESS name can be accepted.

   • Maximum Length: In SQL Server 2008 and later, the maximum length of an instance name is 16 characters. However, in earlier versions such as SQL Server 2000 and 2005, the maximum length is 8 characters.

   • Character Restrictions: Instance names can only contain letters (A-Z, a-z), numbers (0-9) and the underscore (_) character. Other special characters, spaces, or punctuation cannot be used.

   • Uniqueness: SQL Server instance names must be unique to represent different instances on the same computer. Using the same instance name can cause conflicts and runtime issues.

   • Case Sensitivity: SQL Server instance names are case-sensitive by default. That is, different case combinations such as "Instance1" and "instance1" represent different instances. However, in a case-insensitive installation, the instance names are considered the same.

1. Service accounts are specified on the Server Configuration screen. Default accounts can be used, or a GMSA or regular service account can be selected and entered in the Account Name field. If an account is entered, enter the password for this account in the Password field.

   • Select the corresponding Check box to grant the right "Grant Perform Volume Maintenance Task" to the SQL Server service account.

   • Switch to the Collation tab.

   • Collation value for Database Engine should be "SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS". If there is a different Collation instead of this value, the operating system region values should be checked, changed to United States - English and continued from the screen after the restart.

   • Click Next.

Service Accounts Screen

Collation Screen

1. On the Database Engine Configuration screen, apply the following settings.

   • In the Server Configuration tab Windows Authentication Mode is the recommended structure and is configured as such. Optionally, Mixed Authentication can be selected, but in this case, the security of the sa and local accounts must be followed separately.

   • Specify the users and/or groups that will have sysadmin roles during installation on the SQL server using the Add Current User and/or Add buttons.

   • In the Data Directories tab, Default Path settings are made for SQL database, log and backup files. Enter a drive and folder path on the operating system in these fields.

   • In the TempDB tab, the location of the database, database and log files used by the SQL server for temp purposes is determined. The appropriate driver and path information is entered in these fields. It can be left as default.

Server Configuration

Data Directories Screen

TempDB Screen

1. Installation will start immediately, after clicking Next. At the end of setup click Close.

Download SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio)

SSMS is the interface used for SQL Server management. This interface can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center. "https://aka.ms/ssmsfullsetup" can always be used to download the latest version. Use this address and download the SSMS-Setup-ENU.exe file.

Installing SSMS

1. After the SQL Server SSMS Setup file is downloaded, run setup file with the "Run As Administrator" command.

2. In the setup screen Click Install button to install SSMS

1. At the end of setup click Finish to close setup screen, or click Restart button to restart computer. Some installations finishes with restart option.