Uninstalling SQL Server 2005 Embedded Edition

I thought I was just seeing things when I saw this in the Services applet - SQL Server 2005 Embedded Edition(MICROSOFT##SSEE). This is the version of SQL Server 2005 that Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 installs on your server if you simply choose all the defaults. The problem with this is that there is no way for you to manage it from the SQL Server tools we are all familiar with (I tried it with Management Studio and sqlcmd but with no luck as it just throws an error saying that the server instance does not exist). Besides, if you want to scale up your database, you would have to migrate it to either Standard or Enterprise Edition. This renders this instance useless. Most of us will simply recommend uninstalling this version. The problem is, you won't see this in your Add/Remove Programs applet in Windows. It's an invisible instance that the only way to uninstall this is to uninstall Windows Sharepoint Services as well (unless you want to go through the process, I suggest not doing a complete reinstall). So how do you uninstall SQL Server 2005 Embedded Edition? I found it through this website.

1. Start Registry Editor, and then locate the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

2. In the left pane, click each GUID. For each GUID that you click, look for a display name in the right pane that matches “Microsoft SQL 2005 Embedded Edition…”.

3. When you see a display name that matches the name, copy the value of the Key named “UninstallString”
4. Open a Command-Window (Start->run->cmd)
5. Paste the Copied string. It should be something like this: MsiExec.exe /X{BDD79957-5801-4A2D-B09E-852E7FA64D01}
6. Append “ CALLERID=OCSETUP.EXE” at the end of the MsiExec.exe eg “MsiExec.exe /X{BDD79957-5801-4A2D-B09E-852E7FA64D01} CALLERID=OCSETUP.EXE”

7. Run the command. This will go through the process of uninstalling SQL Server 2005 Embedded Edition

8. Reboot.

To verify, you can check the Services applet and see if the SQL Server 2005 Embedded Edition (MICROSOFT##SSEE) service is no longer there