Creating a Setup Initialization File

The setup initialization file contains the information that will be used to set configuration parameters when SQL Server is installed. Instead of responding to prompts for information from the setup program during installation, you enter configuration parameters ahead of time, in the configuration file, and during installation setup obtains the necessary settings from there.

    To create a setup initialization file
  1. Using any text editor, create a new text file.
  2. Enter configuration information following the format described in Format of the Setup Initialization File and A Sample Setup Initialization File later in this appendix.
  3. Save the initialization file on a storage device accessible to the computers that will be set up. Save as a text file, using any filename ending in the .INI filename extension.

Optionally, you can create custom scripts that will run during installation. All custom scripts must be placed in one directory on the server being installed (or in one directory accessible to the server). The path to the scripts and the name of the scripts must be entered in the setup initialization file. For more information, see [Scripts], later in this appendix.

All the entries in the initialization file are strings and can also be created using the Windows function WritePrivateProfileString. For example:

// Assume lpszKeyValue is user's name string from user interface
LSTR lpszKeyValue
// Needs to be written to [License]FullName in SETUP.INI
WritePrivateProfileString("License","FullName",
   lpszKeyValue,"SETUP.INI")

For information about using WritePrivateProfileString, see your Windows programming documentation.

Important The setup program does not perform error checking of the values entered in the initialization file. It is up to the user to ensure that the .INI file contains valid values.