Please help me install SQL Server 2008 for the umpteenth time

[ThermoSight]

Hello again !

I am about to try, for the umpteenth time, to install Microsoft's SQL Server 2008.

The installation keeps dying due to an inability to log on, prompting me to suspect that I am not entering the account name, password, or both, properly.

This machine's name is SONY, the administrator account is 'Bill', and account 'Bill' has no password.

Given the information above, can anyone tell me what the "account name" and "password" entries required by the installation process should be?

I note that during the installation process, one of the forms displays the term "SONY/Bill (Bill)". Is THAT the account name and password the installation procedure seeks ?

thanks for any light you can shed on this very arcane installation process - a process which even the NSA would not be able to crack. (I'm sure there must be a very good reason for raising the bar so high that even computer-literate purchasers cannot install the software).

bill

[Shuja Ali]

What is the name of the SQL instance.

Well for one thing SQL Server installation is not just for any computer user. Sometimes even the most experienced IT professionals have problems installing software on different workstations.

You should go through the installation instructions that should be part of the software or you can view them on www.msdn.com, write down everything that you have done during installation like SQL Instance name, user id, system administrator password, etc). That should help you resolve the issue.

[ThermoSight]

Shuja,

Thank you so much for your help. With your guidance, this problem has been RESOLVED.

I didn't realize it the first 'n' times thru the procedure, but the answer was right there waiting for me to select it. All I had to do was click on the gizmo that revealed a list of options for account name and password. I selected one of the options that sounded remotely familiar and VOILA!

SO, the procedure ran to completion ... now all I have to do is figure out how to use SQL Server. Right now all I see from SQL Server Management Studio is a blank slate. I'll head over to B&N for the appropriate book tonight, and maybe sometime tomorrow I'll have my first database. Something REALLY simple that suits a novice such as I. The longest journey ... and all that.

Thanks very much for your help, Shuja ... you got me headed in the right direction.

Best wishes.

bill