sqlserver

You can install sql server more than once, so if the second time round it detected it, it would create another instance, this can be confusing.

I saw one box with twenty instances of MSDE on it.

What error message are you getting back on entering the user name and password?

I am changing my advice. Follow the link in Jeff Kunkel's post. That procedure makes more sense. If that doesn't work, then rebuild the server and start from scratch. Just my 2 cents.

This is potentially dangerous advice. The first time I installed Oracle on NT we had a problem. Uninstalling and reinstalling caused different problems because the old version wasn't fully uninstalled.

What I finally did was to run the uninstall program. Go through the registry and delete every key with the string "Oracle" in it. Then reinstall Oracle with the correct parameters. That worked.

I would only try this as a last resort. Before you do, ask yourself if you will be OK if you have to rebuild the server from scratch. If you have a system admin there discuss the idea with him before trying it.

Here is an article on the MS site that may be able to help you. Apparently SQL Server 2K5 can be more cumbersome in earlier versions to clean up after from an uninstall.

Hope it helps...

How to uninstall an instance of SQL Server 2005 manually