SQL Express install failure

When installing Solid Edge Standard Parts Administrator onto a computer that does not have Microsoft SQL, the installer will automatically install SQL Express. Unfortunately, there are situations where the SQL installation will fail. 

If you encounter the following error, select No to stop the process...

The install can fail for several reasons. Unfortunately, since the SQL Express installation is being performed as a background process, it does not tell you why it’s failing. The following instructions will show you how to resolve this issue.

The StandardPartsAdministrator_2024_2310_ENGLISH.exe is a self-extracting executable. To gain access to the SQL Express installer we need to extract the files. To do that we need to install an extraction utility, for instance, 7-zip.

https://www.7-zip.org/download.html

With 7-zip installed you can now extract the files...

Browse into the Standard Parts Administrator > ISSetupPrerequisites >  Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Express for SE folder…

This is the installer for SQL Express, which is a self-extracting executable. Open it with 7-zip and extract the files…

When you browse into the sql folder you should see the following…

To install SQL Express just double-click SETUP.EXE

You will need to select the first option “New SQL Server stand-alone installation…”

The SQL Express installer will perform some validation and provide feedback if there is an issue.

In the example above, the path is too long. This is the most common reason SQL Express fails to install. The solution is to move the installation folder to shorten the installation path. You can move it to your C:\Temp folder or to the root C: drive…

Run SETUP.EXE again…

Now that the validation passed, simply click Next > to proceed. Continue to click Next > on each screen, taking the defaults presented.

Once SQL Express completes its installation, you are not quite finished. You will need to install Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Express LocalDB for SE…

Just double-click the SqlLocalDB.msi to install.

Once this completes you can go back and install Standard Parts Administrator. Since SQL Express is installed, that step will be skipped. Also, since you extracted the install files for Standard Parts Administrator you can simply double-click setup.exe…