Monday, 20 June 2011

Error installing SQL Server Express 2008

I ran in to an issue when trying to install SQL Server Express 2008 with Advanced Services. The installation file was a single executable (SQLEXPRADV_x86_ENU.exe)  but when I ran it I got the following error in a dialog box:

“SQL Server Setup has encountered the following error:

Invoke or BeginInvoke cannot be called on a control until the window handle has been created..”

The solution to the problem is:

  1. SQLEXPRADV_x86_ENU.exe is a self-extracting Zip file. Use WinZip to extract it to a local folder.
  2. Open a command window and navigate to the folder containing the extracted setup files.
  3. Run setup.exe from the command prompt.

That’s it.

Note that if you want to use Add or Remove Programs feature to add new features you can use the extracted files as the ‘installation media’.