I installed SQL 2005 successfully after removing VS Beta 2 (and the SQL CTP that came with it).
For anyone who needs to remove Beta 2 the following steps may be useful:
1. Download the RTMs from MSDN Subscriber Downloads
(assuming you are a Subscriber)
2. Uninstall SQL Server CTP
The following wouldn’t work for me so I had to uninstall the components manually
http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2005/06/14/429194.aspx
Here’s a guide to which order to do it in
http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2005/06/14/429203.aspx
Here’s the order I uninstalled:
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Tools CTP
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Data Transformation Services CTP
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services CTP
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Notification Services CTP
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services CTP
Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files
Microsoft SQL Native Client
3. Uninstall VS 2005 Beta 2
Use the VS removal tool
http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/a/a/0aacd9c1-a0c5-43ab-a428-0ee440d4472c/vs_uninst.exe
4. Mount your ISO image using the Microsoft utility
(some blogs advise against using this, but it works fine for me)
http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/b/6/7b6abd84-7841-4978-96f5-bd58df02efa2/winxpvirtualcdcontrolpanel_21.exe
Overview of using it
http://www.quepublishing.com/articles/article.asp?p=406936&seqNum=2
5. Install SQL Server 2005 as per normal install
Everything works fine, and all the issues I had with the Beta have been fixed.
Happy me.
See also Rick Strahl’s blog for VS specific advice
http://west-wind.com/weblog/posts/3367.aspx
