BUG: Cannot uninstall SQL Server 6.5 after SQL Server 7.0 is upgraded to SQL Server 2000 on the same computer (273502)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (all editions)
  • Microsoft SQL Server 6.5

This article was previously published under Q273502
BUG #: 235915 (SHILOH)

SYMPTOMS

If you try to uninstall SQL Server 6.5 by doing the following after SQL Server 7.0 has been upgraded to SQL Server 2000 on the same computer:

On the Start menu, choose Programs, select Microsoft SQL Server-Switch, and then click Uninstall SQL Server 6.x. you may receive the following error message:
Your -SwitchTo argument was invalid. Please use 60,65 or 80.

followed by:

An error occurred which prevented a successful version switch. Please make sure the Registry Editor, Query Analyzer and ISQL are closed, and try running vswitch.exe again.

WORKAROUND

Copy the kill6x.exe file from the SQL Server 2000 CD that is located in the x86\binn directory to the mssql7\binn directory on your local disk. You are then able to uninstall SQL Server by following the previously mentioned steps:

On the Start menu, choose Programs, select Microsoft SQL Server-Switch, and click Uninstall SQL Server 6.x. If you do not have the SQL Server 2000 CD available, the following steps can be performed instead to uninstall SQL Server 6.5:
  1. Before removing SQL Server 6.5, make sure that you switch back to SQL Server 6.5. Run Setup.exe from the SQL Server 6.5 CD, and choose the Remove SQL Serve option in the Microsoft SQL Server 6.0 Options window. If you do not switch back to SQL Server 6.5, the previous option is unavailable.
  2. After you successfully remove SQL Server 6.5, and when you switch back to SQL Server 2000, you are prompted with the following message:
    The MSSQLServer Service did not exist, so it has been re-created. Please use the open services control panel to set any user options (i.e, logon and startup type).
    This message states, in effect, that the MSSQLServer service was deleted when SQL Server 6.5 was deleted and it was re-created when switching back to SQL Server 2000.
  3. You may need to reset any service startup options, such as startup type and logon parameters. Change these options through SQL Server Enterprise Manager by selecting Security on the Properties menu for the server.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SQL Server 2000.

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:12/27/2004
Keywords:kbbug kbpending KB273502