The Windows Internal Database is used by Active Directory, WSS, WSUS and other Windows Server services as their data storage. Some of its main characteristics are:
- It cannot be used as a regular SQL Server instance as it is intended to be only used by Windows Services/Programs.
- It cannot be removed by using the "Add or Remove Programs" tool because it does not appear in the list of currently installed programs (more info here). Note that it is not recommended to uninstall SSEE as it might affect the operation of Windows Services that use it.
- It only supports Windows Authentication.
- You can only connect to the instance using Named Pipes.
Fist of all you will need to install SQL Server 2005 Express Edition Management Studio (link).
Then you will need to use the following connection properties:
- Server Type: Database Engine
- Server Name: \\.\pipe\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE\sql\query
- Authentication: Windows Authentication
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2 comments:
This is a nice one.
Even so, any idea of what it can be used for? What are the limitations (if any)?
What I can think of at the moment is logging... maybe?
Anyway, thanks for the tip!
Hi Bojan,
Well, SSEE was designed to only be accessible to Windows Services running on the same machine.
I am not aware of any database size limitations to be honest. As an example when you install SSEE with WSS there are not any db size limitations. I guess any possible db size limitations depend with which Windows service you installed SSEE.
The limitations are:
(1) It cannot be removed by using the "Add or Remove Programs" tool because it does not appear in the list of currently installed programs.
(2) It only supports Windows Authentication.
(3) You can only connect to the instance using Named Pipes.
I would not recommend treating SSEE as a regular SQL Server Instance due to its nature. You can always use another SQL Server Edition/Instance for that!
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