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We have an application that installs a custom instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express as part if the whole installation process.

Microsoft states that SQL Server 2005 Express is not compatible with Windows 8, but in reality it seems to install and work perfectly fine.

The only problem is that during the installation a dialog appears saying it's not compatible, and offers options to get help online, continue with the installation anyway, or cancel. If you chose to continue anyway on all these incompatibility prompts, then the SQL server instance is installed without any problem whatsoever.

Does anyone know if there is a way to suppress these incompatibility messages during the SQL service installation (or any installation, for that matter)?

Angel
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  • Why would you need to silently suppress these messages? If you know the risks and accept them, why can't you just click "Continue" and be done with it? – MDMarra Nov 01 '12 at 15:37
  • The need to suppress these messages is not for me, but for the end users of the software which installs MSSQL 2005 Express as part of its own installation. The messages will only scare the customers and generate massive amounts of support requests. Obviously MSSQL 2005 Express works just fine on Windows 8, so these message serve no practical purpose and will only waste both our time and the time of our customers. – Angel Nov 01 '12 at 15:42
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    If you're distributing software to your customers that is using a version of SQL Server that Microsoft deems incompatible, then you need to update your software to work with a newer SQL Server, not trick the installer into not alerting your customers that you're being slimy. Also, you say `"Obviously MSSQL 2005 Express works just fine on Windows 8"`. How have you tested this? Have you gone through the same rigorous testing or do you know the fine inner-working of the product like Microsoft has? They're the company that designed the thing, don't you think they'd know if there were issues? – MDMarra Nov 01 '12 at 15:43
  • If this version of SQL Server was truly incompatible with Windows 8 we would naturally migrate to SQL 2008 Express. In reality though 2005 Express IS compatible. Do you know of any resources that explain exactly how and why 2005 Express is not compatible with Win8? I couldn't find anything other than terse statements that it's not compatible without any technical reasoning. – Angel Nov 01 '12 at 15:46
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    If you're distributing software to customers, you shouldn't *need* anything else. If Microsoft doesn't support it, you're putting your customers into a bad situation. Seriously, SQL Server 2005 is almost 8 years old now. Spend some R&D money and get your product working on SQL Server 2012. If I were a customer of yours and saw this post, I'd never do business with you again. It's just ugly. – MDMarra Nov 01 '12 at 15:49
  • SQL Server 2012 will exclude a vast amount of our customers who need or want to run Windows XP, so this is a definite no go. As much as we all would like to use the latest cutting edge technology things seldom work like this in the real world. We are perfectly prepared to migrate to SQL Server 2008 though, but I just wanted to explore all possible options before we do so. Am I not allowed? Please, I'm looking for answers, not a fight. :) – Angel Nov 01 '12 at 15:54
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    You're asking the wrong crowd. The IT admins here see this question as you (the vendor) screwing us (the customer) over. We don't want outdated, unsupported software on our systems. – longneck Nov 01 '12 at 15:55
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    You're getting push back because **hiding a warning from Microsoft so that your customers don't know about it is a shitty thing to do.** This is a site for professionals. What you're asking for is decidedly **unprofessional.** – MDMarra Nov 01 '12 at 15:56
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    @Angel Then get your application compatible with SQL 2008 R2 SP1 (or newer), so that it will work on both Win8 and WinXP. – pauska Nov 01 '12 at 15:58
  • I was hoping there was a way to do this in a professional manner. There are various compatibility modes in Windows so that older software would run anyway, are there not? I was hoping there was a way to use this in a technically valid manner. The current version if this software is the last one before migrating to a web based solution, and we were hoping we would not have to make such a drastic change as changing to a different SQL server edition. Obviously, we'll have to migrate to SQL 2008. Thanks for your answers. – Angel Nov 01 '12 at 16:01

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Just because you installed it and it worked doesn't mean it will work for all of your customers.

And because you've forced them to install an unsupported piece of software, they are no longer able to get support from Microsoft.

When it doesn't work, who are you going to ask for help? Microsoft? Nope!

That's a great way to trash your reputation and lose customers over crappy support experiences.

longneck
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