Using SQL Server Desktop Engine Merge Modules

Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000) originally supplied a set of Microsoft Windows® Installer merge modules for independent software vendors (ISVs) to use when installing an instance of MSDE 2000 during their own setup processes. ISVs could use the Windows Installer setup development tools to merge these modules into their setup programs.

The latest service pack for MSDE 2000 still includes merge modules, but only to support existing applications that use them. Using merge modules to install an instance of MSDE 2000 has these disadvantages:

• The instance of MSDE 2000 cannot be patched independently of the application. Only a patch module supplied by the application vendor can be applied to the instance; MSDE 2000 service packs directly from Microsoft cannot be applied.
  
  
• The application vendor must build an MSDE 2000 patch file for each MSDE 2000 service pack, and then distribute that patch file to all customers. Customers cannot simply download and apply the latest Microsoft service pack.
  
  
• Future releases of SQL Server will not include merge modules.

The original MSDE 2000 merge modules were located in the /MSDE/MSM and /MSDE/MSM/1033 folders on the SQL Server 2000 compact disc. These folders were removed from the SQL Server 2000a compact disc. Do not use the merge modules from the original SQL Server 2000 compact disc, because they install a version of MSDE 2000 that does not address issues related to the Slammer worm. Use only the merge modules from the /MSM and/ MSM/1033 folders created by the latest MSDE 2000 service pack.

Important  In the above paragraph, "1033" is the language identifier for English. If you are using an edition of SQL Server localized to another language, the name of this directory will be different. For a list of language identifiers, see syslanguages.

Use the merge modules in the latest MSDE 2000 service pack to build patch files to apply the service pack to instances that were originally installed using merge modules.

Merge modules are used in setup program files built using the Windows Installer SDK. You can download the Windows Installer SDK from Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN®). For more information about the Microsoft Windows Installer Software Development Kit (Windows Installer SDK), see the MSDN Library at this Microsoft Web site.

The following merge modules are required for a minimal installation of Desktop Engine.

Merge module	Contents
Atl.msm	Active Template Library (ATL) logic, files, and registration information
Connect.msm	Connectivity
Dev_scm.msm	Service Control Manager developer files
Dtc.msm	Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator core files
Dts.msm	Data Transformation Services (DTS) core files
Mfc42.msm	Logic, files, and registration information needed to install the retail version of the MFCDLL Shared Library
Msstkprp.msm	Logic, files, and registration information needed to install the Microsoft Stock Property Page
Msvcirt.msm	Logic, files and registration information needed to install the Microsoft Visual C++® Runtime Library
Msvcrt.msm	Logic, files, and registration information needed to install the Microsoft C Runtime Library
Sem.msm	SQL Enterprise Manager core files
Shared.msm	Implements SQL Server local language resource support.
Sqlagent.msm	SQL Agent core files
Sqlsrv.msm	SQL Server core files
Tools.msm	SQL Server tools core files
Upgrade.msm	Upgrade files
1033/DTS_res.msm	Data Transformation Services resource files
1033/Sqlagent_res.msm	SQL Agent resource files
1033/Sqlbase.msm	SQL Server Setup
1033/Sqlsrv_res.msm	SQL Server resource files
1033/Tools_res.msm	SQL Server Tools resource files

Desktop Engine does not require the merge modules listed in the following table; these modules supply additional functionality. You can omit them to conserve space.

Optional merge module	Contents
Dmo.msm	Distributed Management Objects (DMO) core files
1033/Dmo_res.msm	Distributed Management Objects resource files
Repl.msm	Replication core files
1033/Repl_msm	Replication resource files

No more than 16 named instances of Desktop Engine can be installed on a single computer. Your installer's bootstrapper must check for installed instances, ensuring both that this limit is not exceeded and that new installations have unique names. The Desktop Engine Installation API implements two functions to assist in this stage of the installation: NumInstalledInstances and IsInstanceNameValid. For more information, see Installation API for Desktop Engine.

Customizable Installation Properties

The Setup.exe installation properties that can be changed using switches and .ini file can also be changed in Windows Installer packages by editing the Property table of the main .msi file. To edit the Property table, use a tool such as Orca.exe, which is distributed as part of the Windows Installer SDK. The properties that can be changed and the Setup.exe switches to which they correspond are listed in the following table.

External property	Internal property
ALLOWXDBCHAINING	SqlAllowXDBChaining
CALLBACK	SqlCallback
COLLATION	SqlCollation
DATADIR	SqlDataDir
DISABLENETWORKPROTOCOLS	SqlDisableNetworkProtocols
TARGETDIR	SqlProgramDir
INSTANCENAME	SqlInstanceName
SAPWD	SqlSaPwd
SECURITYMODE	SqlSecurityMode
UPGRADE	SqlUpgrade
UPGRADEUSER	SqlUpgradeUser
UPGRADEPWD	SqlUpgradePwd

For information about these properties, see Customizing Desktop Engine Setup.exe.