Legacy Update: Get back online, activate, and install updates on your legacy Windows PC

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SQL Server Express) is a free, easy-to-use, lightweight version of SQL Server 2005. It is fast and easy to learn, allowing you to quickly develop and deploy dynamic data-driven applications. SQL Server Express provides powerful and reliable data management tools along with rich features, data protection, and fast performance. It is ideal for embedded application clients, light Web applications, and local data stores. Designed for easy deployment and rapid prototyping, SQL Server Express is available at no cost, and you are free to redistribute it with applications. If you need more advanced database features, you can upgrade SQL Server Express seamlessly to more sophisticated editions of SQL Server.

Free to download, free to deploy, and free to redistribute as an embedded part of an application, SQL Server Express is the fast and easy way to develop data-driven applications.

For more information about SQL Server Express, including other editions and downloadable components now available, see the SQL Server Express page on MSDN.

For a list of new features and improvements that are included in SQL Server 2005 SP2, review the What's New document.

Files

Status: Deleted This download is no longer available on microsoft.com. The downloads below are archives provided by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine from the Microsoft Download Center prior to December 2015.

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File sizes and hashes are retrieved from the Wayback Machine’s indexes. They may not match the latest versions of files hosted on Microsoft servers.

• Computer with Intel or compatible Pentium III 500 MHz or faster processor (1 GHz or faster is recommended.)
• Minimum of 192 MB of RAM (512 MB or more is recommended.)
• 600 MB of available hard disk space

You must have administrative rights on the computer to install SQL Server Express.

Step 1: For 32-bit platforms, download and install the 32-bit version of Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0. For 64-bit platforms (x64 and EMT64 only), download and install the 64-bit version of Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.

Step 2: Download SQL Server Express by clicking the SQLEXPR.EXE or SQLEXPR32.EXE link later on this page. To start the installation immediately, click Run. To install SQL Server Express at a later time, click Save.

Note: SQLEXPR32.EXE is a smaller package that can be used to install SQL Server Express on 32-bit operating systems only. The larger SQLEXPR.EXE package supports installing onto both 32-bit and 64-bit (WOW install) operating systems. There is no other difference between these packages.

Step 3: Follow the installation instructions provided in the Readme.