Issue
The Vista installation procedure completes with errors. Vista Server and Workstation may appear to be installed but SQL Server Express is not installed.
Environment
Vista 5.1.7
SQL Server 2008 R2 Express
VMWare Player 3,4
Cause
The default hard disk space allocated to a guest OS in VMWare Player is 8GB. When installing Vista 5.1.7 on Windows XP or above this may not be enough space for Vista to install properly. The OS requires 5-6GB and SQL Server 2008 R2 Express requires 2.2GB
Resolution
Increase the disk space allocated to the guest OS in VMware Player
1. Ensure that the virtual machine state is 'Powered Off'. To change the state, play the virtual machine. Then go to the VMware player 'Virtual Machine' menu and select Power - Power Off.
2. Choose 'Virtual Machine Settings...' from the 'Virtual Machine' menu.
3. On the Hardware tab select 'Hard Disk (IDE)' in the device column.
4. From the Utilities drop-down list select 'Expand...'. You can then increase the hard disk size in 1GB increments. I would suggest 10GB as a minimum.
5. Please note that the additional space is not immediately available to the guest OS. To claim this space you must run a disk management tool within the guest OS to increase the size of the existing partition on the virtual hard disk to match the expanded size. Windows Vista and Windows 7 have built-in disk management tools, but on XP you can run third party tools such as Symantec/Norton PartitionMagic, EASEUS Partition Master, Acronis Disk Director and the open-source tool GParted.
