Yesterday, I wasted a few hours trying to upgrade my SQL Server 2005 installation to 2008. Actually, upgrading is a simple process. You can simply select, which instance to upgrade, and the installer does the rest. It worked absolutely fine for my regular instance. I got some installation errors for a component, but didn't mind that at first. Everything seemed to be working.

At least I thought so, until I noticed, WHAT component got the errors. The SQL Server Management Studio was not installed. And the older 2005 version isn't able to connect to 2008. Bummer.

So I thought, let's try to reinstall it. Same error: "The error code is 2349." When you copy the details to the clipboard, you at least find the URL http://www.microsoft.com/products/ee/transform.aspx?ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&EvtSrc=setup.rll&EvtID=50000&ProdVer=10.0.1600.22&EvtType=0xF45F6601%25401201%25401, that gives you the information, that the SQL Server Native Client is causing the trouble.

So I tried upgrading my SQL Server Express instance, but that was also dismissed with an error. Next, I uninstalled my SQL Server 2005 express instance, uninstalled the native client, and now added the Management Studio feature to my SQL Server 2008 instance. Same error, this is really getting frustrating.

So now, my last resort is to uninstall the whole d*rn thing and try to reinstall it. At least the installation only takes about 2 hours *cough*.

UPDATE: Even the complete uninstall did not help. As the error message states, the Native Client is supposedly not installed from the sqlncli.msi package. Well, I even uninstalled and reinstalled ONLY THAT package, to no avail. I'm still getting the same bogus error, when I try to install SSMS. Any help is welcome! I'm out of ideas.

But at least I'm not all alone with my ss2008 install problems. A friend of mine had other issues, but at least he was able to resolve them: http://www.entwicklungsgedanken.de/2009/01/28/installation-problems-with-sql-server-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-252.

UPDATE 2: I have found out, that it's the Visual Studio Tools for Applications 2.0 installer, that is causing the problems. But I still have no idea why.

UPDATE 3: Rollback all rants :-) I found the issue. A file could not be replaced/updated by the installer. This was due to the fact, that my hard disk seems to be defective. The file could not be read, even less replaced. After renaming it, the installation went fine. So now, I have performed a scandisk, the errors have been cleared, and everything is in order. Guess I'll be backing up more often now, though.

When working with several POP3 accounts, it can be a real pain to always have to enter every single account when you reinstall outlook or have to switch profiles or simply have multiple computers. Other mail clients have an option to export account settings, Outlook doesn't. Bummer...

I ran into the Office Resource Kit, which at least helped a bit by enabling me to create a custom .prf-file. The accounts specified in the file can be used to create a new Outlook profile. A set of instructions on how to do this can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308300. When you've created your .prf file, you can set up your accounts on any machine by simply starting it. Hurray for automation :-)

When connecting to an exchange account for the first time, it sets up all default folders. This is done using the language of the connecting client, which may result in an unexpected layout. This happened to me, leaving me with english instead of german folders.

This would not have been such a problem, but I wanted to import my structure from a previous account. No problem importing things, but they went into new folders with the german names. Now I had two contact folders, two mailboxes, two calenders, everything was there twice, and the empty ones were the defaults...

At first, I was told, the account would have to be reset completely, wiping out all data already imported. But, actually there is a much simpler way of changing the folder names to the desired language. Simple start the Outlook of your desired langauge from the command line specifying the following parameter:

outlook.exe /resetfoldernames

Presto, everything is in your language. Now importing is a lot more fun because you can actually use the imported data.

Today, I got a new Exchange account to replace my existing one. After copying everything, I only had to get my Xda neo to sync with the new account. This did not prove to be that easy, as simply changing the configured account led to interesting errors. Not only would ActiveSync always give me an error, it also produced errors in my PIM's contact list. It would show all contacts for a split second, then only show about half of the contacts. I tried to remove them all, but was only able to remove those shown. The others remained and broke the synchronization process.

So, how do you solve this, you ask. I don't know, if this is the best way, but it was the only one I found and that solved my problems without having to hard-reset my device:

1. Rename the file 'pim' to anything else and restart your PIM. This will clear all contacts, calendar entries, tasks, etc. If you don't sync all these items, you should probably make a backup first!
2. Remove the mobile device from the ActiveSync connections
3. Create a new connection to the PIM and start syncing with the new settings

I realize, this is not very comfortable, but at least it works and leaves the rest of your device intact (i.e. installed programs, customized sounds, etc.).