If you wish to use Microsoft's SQL Server as the TV Server database engine on Windows 7 then you must use SQL Server 2008 Express SP1. Sadly we cannot deploy this automatically during the TV Server installation so you will need to install it manually before installing the TV Server.

Required Downloads

You will need to download Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express Edition SP1 from the Microsoft Download web site. Three different installation packages are available:

• SQLEXPR_x64_ENU.exe - Recommended for 64-bit operating systems
• SQLEXPR32_x86_ENU.exe - Recommended for 32-bit operating systems
• SQLEXPR_x86_ENU.exe - For 32-bit or 64-bit operating systems (will install in WOW64 on x64 OS)

Download the recommended installation package for your operating system and save it in the standard Windows 7 Downloads folder (%USERPROFILE%\Downloads).

Installation Instructions

NOTE: The following instructions assume you are using the recommended 32-bit installation package. If you are using a 64-bit OS, adjust the instructions accordingly.

1. Open a Command Prompt window as an Administrator:
   1. Click Start
   2. Type *

      CMD

      * and press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER
2. Extract the SQL 2008 setup files to a temporary location
   1. In the Command Prompt window type *

      %USERPROFILE%\Downloads\SQLEXPR32_x86_ENU.exe /x

      *
   2. When prompted to Choose Directory For Extracted Files type C:\SQLEXPR and click OK to extract the files.
3. Create an SQL 2008 installation script
   1. Open Notepad
   2. Copy and paste the following text into the Notepad window:

NOTE: If you are installing the 64-bit version of SQL 2008, remove the semicolon ( from the INSTALLSHAREDWOWDIR= line.

• ;SQLSERVER2008 Configuration File
  [SQLSERVER2008]
  ; The following 2 options control Microsoft Error Reporting and Feature Usage Reporting.
  ; If you are paranoid about such things, please change the settings to "False" to disable these features.
  ERRORREPORTING="True"
  SQMREPORTING="True"
  ; If you want to change the installation location for SQL 2008, adjust the following entries
  INSTALLSHAREDDIR="C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server"
  ;INSTALLSHAREDWOWDIR="c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server"
  INSTANCEDIR="C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server"
  ; Other options - change these at your own risk!
  SQLSYSADMINACCOUNTS="BUILTIN\Administrators"
  ADDCURRENTUSERASSQLADMIN="False"
  TCPENABLED="0"
  INSTANCEID="SQLExpress"
  INSTANCENAME="SQLEXPRESS"
  ACTION="Install"
  FEATURES=SQLENGINE,REPLICATION
  HELP="False"
  INDICATEPROGRESS="True"
  QUIET="False"
  QUIETSIMPLE="False"
  X86="False"
  PCUSOURCE="C:\SQLEXPR\PCUSOURCE"
  AGTSVCSTARTUPTYPE="Manual"
  ISSVCSTARTUPTYPE="Automatic"
  ISSVCACCOUNT="NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService"
  ASSVCSTARTUPTYPE="Automatic"
  ASCOLLATION="Latin1_General_CI_AS"
  ASDATADIR="Data"
  ASLOGDIR="Log"
  ASBACKUPDIR="Backup"
  ASTEMPDIR="Temp"
  ASCONFIGDIR="Config"
  ASPROVIDERMSOLAP="1"
  SQLSVCSTARTUPTYPE="Automatic"
  FILESTREAMLEVEL="0"
  ENABLERANU="True"
  SQLCOLLATION="Latin1_General_CI_AS"
  SQLSVCACCOUNT="NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM"
  SECURITYMODE="SQL"
  NPENABLED="0"
  BROWSERSVCSTARTUPTYPE="Automatic"
  RSSVCSTARTUPTYPE="Automatic"
  RSINSTALLMODE="FilesOnlyMode"

• Save the notepad document to C:\SQLEXPR\MPSQL2008.ini
• Choose a password for the SQL Server 2008 SA account
  1. The password should be at least 7 characters in length
  2. The password should contain UPPERCASE and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols
  3. Write the password down - you will need it during the initial TV Server setup and also when updating to new versions of TV Server.
  4. An example of a suitable password is

     M3d!aP0rtal

• Launch the SQL Server 2008 Express SP1 setup
  1. In the Command Prompt window type *

     C:\SQLEXPR\setup.exe /Q /CONFIGURATIONFILE="C:\SQLEXPR\MPSQL2008.ini" /SAPWD="

     _

     Your SA password goes here

     _

     "

     *
  2. The installation can take quite a while depending on the speed of your system. Once the installation has completed, type *

     exit

     * to close the Command Prompt window.

Please refer to this thread for the final few steps of config for SQL and the firewall.

MediaPortal / TV Server Installation

When installing MediaPortal, do not select "One Click Installation" as this will default to using MySql. Instead, Perform an advanced installation and tell the installer that SQL server is already present and will be used for TV-Server.

Cleaning up

The following files and folders can be removed after a successfull installation:

• C:\SQLEXPR
• Downloads\SQLEXPR32_x86_ENU.exe

Notes

Tested with

• Windows 7 RTM x86 with UAC enabled (highest level)
• MediaPortal 1.1.0 Beta1