Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP3 Release Notes
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These release notes are carefully and closely monitored. Any changes you make will be evaluated and then quickly accepted, refined, or reverted. Because this is a wiki, additions or refinements to these release notes might have been made by community members. To read the original and official release notes document, click here.
This Release Notes document describes known issues that you should read about before you install or troubleshoot SQL Server 2008 SP3 (download it here). This document also provides search tips to help you find more known issues in Knowledge Base (KB) articles on the Microsoft Help and Support Web site. This Release Notes document and the KB articles supplement SQL Server 2008 Books Online.
This Release Notes document applies to the following products:
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition for Small Business
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Developer
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express with Advanced Services
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Web
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Workgroup
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services
This Release Notes document is available only online, not on the installation media, and it is updated periodically.
For information about how to get started with installing SQL Server 2008, see the SQL Server 2008 Readme. The Readme is available on the installation media and from the Readme download page.
Contents
2.0 Release Notes for the Original Release
3.0 How to Find More Known Issues
1.0 Before You Install Service Pack 3
For a list of the bugs that are fixed in SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3, see KB article 2546945.
2.1 Recommended Disk Space Requirements to Download, Extract, and Install SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3
The recommended disk space requirements to download, extract, and install SP3 are approximately 2.5 times the size of the package. The sizes of the SP3 packages are listed below:
SQL Server Express Packages (download):
- SQLEXPR32_x86 (can be installed on both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems): 110 MB
- SQLEXPR_x86 (can be installed on 32-bit operating systems): 96 MB
- SQLEXPR_x64: 123 MB
All Other Editions of SQL Server:
- X86: 300 MB
- X64: 367 MB
- IA64: 359 MB
2.2 SQL Server 2008 R2 Features are displayed in the SQL Server Setup Wizard when You Run the SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3 Update
You might see SQL Server 2008 R2 features included in the list of features to be updated by the SQL Server 2008 service pack on the Select Feature or Ready to Update page. SQL Server 2008 R2 components are not affected by the SQL Server 2008 service pack update. No action is required.
You might see SQL Server 2008 R2 components in the list of features on the Select Feature or Ready to Uninstall page when removing a SQL Server 2008 service pack update. SQL Server 2008 R2 features are not uninstalled during this process. No action is required.
2.3 All Features of an Instance of SQL Server Must Be at the Same Version Level Before Applying a Cumulative Update
If you apply a SQL Server cumulative update to an instance of SQL Server where the features are not all at the same version level, the update will fail. To avoid this failure, you must ensure that all the features in an instance of SQL Server are at the same version of SQL Server.
3.0 Release Notes for the Original Release
Before you install SQL Server 2008, read the following required actions and KB articles.
3.1 Required Actions
If you have installed Visual Studio 2008 or have installed prerelease versions of SQL Server 2008, you might have to perform prerequisite actions before you install SQL Server 2008. To determine which actions that you might have to perform, use the following table.
Visual Studio 2008 installation status |
SQL Server 2008 installation status |
Required action before you install SQL Server 2008 |
Is not installed. |
Prerelease version was never installed. |
No action is required. |
Is not installed. |
Prerelease version is currently or was previously installed. |
Follow these steps:
|
Is installed, and the release version of Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is not installed. |
Prerelease version was never installed. |
Perform one of the following options:
|
Is installed, and the release version of Visual Studio 2008 SP1 is not installed. |
Prerelease version is currently or was previously installed. |
Follow these steps:
|
Visual Studio 2008 SP1 release version is installed. |
Prerelease version was never installed. |
No action is required. |
Visual Studio 2008 SP1 release version is installed. |
Prerelease version is currently installed. |
Uninstall the prerelease version of SQL Server 2008. |
If you install Visual Studio 2008 after you have installed SQL Server 2008, you must install Visual Studio 2008 SP1 to have a supported configuration. Visual Studio 2008 SP1 is not required if you did not install the following features that require Visual Studio 2008: Management Tools (both Basic or Complete), Integration Services, and Business Intelligence Development Studio.
For more information about how to install SQL Server 2008 with Visual Studio 2008, see the blog entry SQL Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 SP1, and .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 Explained on MSDN and KB article 956139. For more information about Visual Studio 2008 SP1, see this Visual Studio Web site.
Connecting to SQL Server 2008 from Visual Studio 2005 requires downloading and installing Visual Studio 2005 Support for SQL Server 2008.
3.2 Knowledge Base Articles to Read First
The following Knowledge Base (KB) articles highlight known issues that are important to read before you install SQL Server 2008. To find more KB articles about installation, use this Before You Install query.
KB ID |
Summary |
Visual Studio 2008 SP1 may be required for SQL Server 2008 installations. |
|
You cannot add a cluster node when you install SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services and you do not install the SQL Server 2008 Database Engine. |
|
The status indicator for a SQL Server 2008 mirror database differs from SQL Server 2005. |
|
How to troubleshoot SQL Server 2008 Setup issues. |
|
If upgrade to SQL Server 2008 fails, uninstall the upgrade before retrying the upgrade. |
|
You might receive this error message when you try to upgrade to SQL Server 2008 on a computer that is running Windows Server: "Access to the path '<Path>\perf-MSSQL$SQL2008sqlctr.dll' is denied." |
|
How SQL Server 2008 updates what feature usage data to collect. |
3.3 Error and Usage Reporting Help Button Does Not Respond
If you click the Help button in the SQL Server Error and Usage Reporting dialog box, it does not respond. To view the content, see Error and Usage Report Settings on MSDN.
4.0 How to Find More Known Issues
We recommend that you view more known issues by searching for "SQL Server 2008" on the Microsoft Support Web site. To find KB articles on specific topics, click any of the following suggested searches, or create your own custom search strings.
- Before You Install, Upgrade, and Configure SQL Server 2008
- Analysis Services
- Connectivity
- Database Engine
- Failover Cluster
- Full-text Search
- Integration Services
- Logo Certification
- Replication
- Reporting Services
- Tools
You can also join the SQL Server Community to share your experiences and learn from other people who are using SQL Server 2008. For more information, see the SQL Server Community Web site.
Books Online is the primary documentation for SQL Server 2008. You can view SQL Server 2008 Books Online on MSDN, or download a stand-alone version from the SQL Server 2008 Books Online download page.