Yesterday, on 2 PC's the installation of SQL Server 2005 failed.  The first PC failed with the installation of MSXML6 and on SQL Server VSS Writer.  the second PC failed on SQL Server VSS Writer.  We couldn't find out why, even with the install log.

To solve this we put on the extended log on MSI's.  This is a logging for each step of the MSI and results in a big log file.  It's called voicewarmup. So just set it on before the installation and after the installation, set it back off.  You will find the log file in the TEMP folder under the name msiNNNNN.log.  Now you can walk through this log file and find the solution.

Find more info here : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa369776(VS.85).aspx and here http://www.pctools.com/guides/registry/detail/1127/

Last Thursday (10 November 2005), I went to the Belgium Launch party of Visual Studio .Net 2005, SQL Server 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006.  The place to be was Court-St-Etienne.

There where a few speakers :
· Keynote by S. Somasegar, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Corporation
· Session 1 : Clemens Vasters, Chief Technology Officer, Newtelligence AG
· Session 2 : Astrid Hackenberg Trainer and advisor SQL Server, Class-A

Mr Somasegar did the kick-off the Belux Launch of SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006

Session 1 gives us an insight in the new capabilities of Visual Studio 2005.  Session 2 presents us the new world of SQL Server 2005.

In between the sessions there where some great shows, to keep everybody ready.  Afterwards we had a walking dinner party.  And we closed the day with a great dance event.  I left the party around 12 o’clock in the night.  And still a few people (10-20) where partying. 

On the Launch site of Microsoft, you can find some pictures.  Go and see them.

Also available now is SQL Server 2005 Beta 1 Express Editions.  The same as for the Express editions of VS 2005, it's a lightweight version of SQL Server 2005.

You can find more info here :

• Microsoft Labs
• Brian A. Randell
• VS Data team's Weblog

Update :
Check also the VSExpress blog.