So i decided to get Vista to take advantage of IIS 7 and i anticipated a few problems to get all my Windows XP programs to work properly, but i thought it would need maybe some Service Packs and i should get it all working. However when i tried to install Sql Server 2005 on Vista, the setup wizard warned me of two problems (one compatibility with this new version of windows and second the IIS thingy). I didn’t care because at the end of the day, all i want is a database for me to use for my web apps.
Having said this, i was trying to instal SQL Server 2005 Developer edition on Vista and although i had previously installed Visual Studio 2008 which would have installed SQL Server Express, i thought it would not cause any problems but after the installation i couldn’t find SQL Server Management Studio and all that was listed under SQL Server 2005 was the configuration tools. If you run into the same problem, you will need to go to uninstall programs in Control Panel and choose to uninstall workstation components ONLY. Then run the setup of SQL Server again and remember to go to advanced to select the workstation components and it will install it properly for you. The problem is that Vista does not realise that the workstation components (including SQL Server Management Studio) is an upgrade to the SQL Server Express and it therefore discards it during setup. Follow this link for more information.
I read similar article also named Problem installing Sql Server 2005 on Vista Home Premium, and it was completely different. Personally, I agree with you more, because this article makes a little bit more sense for me