Upgrading SQL Server 2005 Express to Enterprise edition

I have been using SQL Server 2005 Express for a year now to test the back-end of an application, and now upgrading to the Enterprise edition to perform some ETL tasks in SSIS. So I will be trying to upgrade directly from Express edition to Enterprise without un-installing to see how it goes ;-)

Spefically, I am running SQL Server 2005 Express SP3, version 9.00.4035.00 . You can get the information by running this query:

SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('productversion'), SERVERPROPERTY ('productlevel'), SERVERPROPERTY ('edition')

Attempt 1: Direct installation of SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition

I simply run the set up file for Enterprise, resulting in this warning message

- Edition Change Check (Warning)
Messages
Edition Change Check
To change an existing instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 to a different edition of SQL Server 2005, you must run SQL Server 2005 Setup from the command prompt and include the SKUUPGRADE=1 parameter

I still can proceed with the installation, although I think I will run into a couple of issues. For example, I cannot select most of the server components:

OK, time to use SKUUPGRADE=1

Attempt 2: Running installer with SKUUPGRADE=1 option

Instead of double-clicking on the setup.exe file, I ran this from the command line

setup.exe SKUUPGRADE=1

A new warning message:

- Default Installation Path Permission Requirement (Warning)
Messages
Default Installation Path Permission Requirement
To run SQL Server Setup, log on to this computer with an account that has administrator privleges.

I am going to ignore that because I know I am logged on with an account with Adminsitrator rights.

After clicking Next, I still got the same issue as above. Server components greyed out.

Perhaps the problem is with the Enterprise edition?

Attempt 3: Using SQL Server 2005 Standard edition

Using this command line:

setup.exe SKUUPGRADE=1

Aha! Now I can see the server components:

When I look at the Operating Systems requirement in SQL Server Setup Help file, I found out that Enterprise Edition does not run on Windows 2000 Professional Edition SP4, which is what my laptop is running. Forgot rule #1: Always RTFM

Summary

Direct upgrade of SQL Server 2005 Express to SQL Server 2005 Standard works, but always check the setup requirements in the help files.