SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition and Full Text Search

Hello all,

Couple of months ago I installed SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition to be used as repository for test tool the QA department needed to use. Everything seems to be fine till end of August when QA team needed to enable Full Text Search and search for some of the databases during their test phase. I got an email stating that the full text did not work. So I dived in to investigate.

I found out that SQL Server 2008 R2 Express edition only does not support the full text search and I had to upgrade to SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition with Advanced Features. While searching I found this site that talks about how to upgrade the Edition.

In my case the upgrade did not work. I kept getting run time errors during the upgrade process. That forced me to uninstall but before uninstall I backed up all the user databases and scripted out the logins using sp_help_revlogin stored procedure (you can read all about transferring logins here). Then I installed SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition with Advanced Features. During the installation I checked the full text search in the feature selection and continue with the process. Then I executed the script to create the logins. After that I attached all the databases and voila.

I think from now on I will only install SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition with Advanced Features but install only the features I need (ie, database only) and if someone needs other features like Full Text Search or Reporting Services then I can easily add the features.

HTH,

Bulent