Removing Microsoft SQL Server

I have quite a lot of Microsoft SQL Server installed on my computed which I'ld like to unistall. They were probably used by the previous computer owner, who used it for his software developing, and since I use only MySQL, I don't think I'm need of it for now.

The problem that refrained me from uninstall it is that, by reading MSQLS's page on Wikipedia, it was sad that some application uses SQL to run. So I was stucked with the problem that, by uninstalling MSQLS, I may stop a program from running.

So how can I know if there is no problem in uninstalling MSQLS? Is there a way to check if a given software requires MSQLS and therefore I shouldn't uninstall it?

sql-server

Momergil

Posted 2013-08-03T18:12:30.007

Reputation: 1

Are you able to determine SQL server versions and instance names? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/141154/how-can-i-determine-installed-sql-server-instances-and-their-versions Include that in your question. It may help identify wher the installations came from.

– Jan Doggen – 2013-08-03T18:41:40.437

Answers

It's pretty hard to know for sure without researching each piece of software, but an easy way may be to stop the SQL Server and/or MSSQL services on your machine (from Control Panel > Services) and set them to Disabled startup. If everything keeps working, you can uninstall.

Rory

Posted 2013-08-03T18:12:30.007

Reputation: 1 473

Hmmm, nice tip (why didn't I thought about this earlier? >.<). I'll do that at the weekend :) – Momergil – 2013-08-06T16:56:12.490

Which version of windows do you run?
Windows 8 has some applications(default apps) which need SQL server while windows 7 doesn't.
What all other soft wares are installed on your PC?
Development programs like Visual Studio, Eclipse, Netbeans etc need SQL server for database connectivity.
If you want to use any of these programs, do not uninstall SQL Server.

user241704

Posted 2013-08-03T18:12:30.007

Reputation:

Windows 7. About other softwares, there is something like 100 of them, so no way I'm going to tell ^^ About IDEs, I only use Qt Creator, which doesn't use MSQLS if one don't ask (my case). Actually I'm much more worried about 'normal' apps installed on the pc :T – Momergil – 2013-08-06T16:58:51.590

In Most cases , normal apps won't require Microsoft SQL server in particular. – None – 2013-08-06T17:33:12.347

-1

If you have applications that use SQL server components running on your system, you will have issues with that application, but I don't think there would be any that you are not aware of. its not a dependency of any other stock system services, but if you use visual studio 2012 or other MS development suite, it may require the packages and services.

Do you have any of the former owners custom built applications that you plan to use? if not, and you are not using visual studio, go ahead and uninstall it.

Frank Thomas

Posted 2013-08-03T18:12:30.007

Reputation: 29 039

"but I don't think there would be any that you are not aware of"?? The computer had a previous owner! I have seen several business packages installing SQL Server and have also built software that did that, so this answer is unreliable. – Jan Doggen – 2013-08-03T18:40:30.417