SQL Server is not supported on Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 Terminal Server application server

Terminal Server provides remote computers with access to Windows-based programs running on the following systems:

• Windows Server 2003 Standard Server
• Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Server
• Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Server
• Windows Server 2008 Standard Server
• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Server
• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Server

With Terminal Server, you can provide a single point of installation that gives multiple users access to any computer that is running one of the operating systems listed earlier. Users can run programs, save files, and use network resources, all from a remote location as if these resources were installed on their own computers. This functionality is now available on server clusters in Windows Server 2003.

Remote Desktop for Administration is another part of the Terminal Services technology that is offered in Windows Server 2003 or in Windows Server 2008. You can enable remote administration of servers with Remote Desktop for Administration on any computer that is running the Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 family of products, even if Terminal Server is not installed.

Note In Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, the Terminal Server component is named Terminal Services in Application Server mode. In Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, the Remote Desktop for Administration component is named Terminal Services in Remote Administration mode.

To determine whether the Terminal Server service is running on the computer, follow these steps:

1. Open Control Panel.
2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
3. On the left side of the screen, double click
   Add/Remove Windows Components.
4. Under Components, scroll down the list until you find Terminal Server. If Terminal Server is not selected, the service that is running is the "Remote Desktop" service and you can continue with your SQL Server installation. If Terminal Server is selected, you must clear the check box to remove the Terminal Server service in the application before you continue with the SQL Server installation.

For more information about the supportability of SQL Server failover clusters on Windows Server 2003 clusters, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

313037 Upgrading SQL Server clusters to Windows Server 2003

Example log behavior if Terminal Server is installed

If Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server is installed and you try to install SQL Server, no log files exist in the %windir% folder. However, the log files are stored in the %userprofile%\Windows folder. When you check the log files and you compare the log to the system variables, you see results that are similar to the following in the Sqlstp.log file:

19:41:44 Begin Action: SetupInstall

19:41:44 Reading Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CommonFilesDir

 
...


19:41:44 CommonFilesDir=C:\Program Files\Common Files

19:41:44 Windows Directory=C:\Documents and Settings\<user_name>\WINDOWS\ 

19:41:44 Program Files=C:\Program Files\

19:41:44 TEMPDIR=C:\DOCUME~1\<user_nam~1>\LOCALS~1\Temp\1\ 
         From system variables - USERPROFILE=C:\Documents and Settings\<user_name> windir=C:\WINDOWS 

Note This example does not apply to servers that are running Windows 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or a later version. We recommend that you check manually for a Windows directory in the %USERPROFILE% directory.