Windows Internal Database (codenamed WYukon, sometimes referred to as SQL Server Embedded Edition) is a variant of SQL Server Express 2005–2014 that is included with Windows Server 2008 (SQL 2005), Windows Server 2008 R2 (SQL 2005), Windows Server 2012 (SQL 2012), Windows Server 2012 R2 (SQL 2012), Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019 and

Windows Server 2022 Windows Server 2022 is the thirteenth major version of the Windows NT operating system produced by Microsoft to be released under the Windows Server brand name. It was announced at Microsoft's Ignite event from March 2–4, 2021. It was rele ...

(SQL 2014) and is included with other free

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

products released after 2007 that require an SQL Server database backend.

Windows SharePoint Services SharePoint is a collection of enterprise content management and knowledge management tools developed by Microsoft. Launched in 2001, it was initially bundled with Windows Server as Windows SharePoint Server, then renamed to Microsoft Office Sh ...

3.0 and

Windows Server Update Services Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), previously known as Software Update Services (SUS), is a computer program and network service developed by Microsoft Corporation that enables administrators to manage the distribution of updates and hot ...

3.0 both include Windows Internal Database, which can be used as an alternative to using a retail edition of SQL Server. WID was a 32-bit application, even as a component of Windows Server 2008 64-bit, which installs in the path In Windows Server 2012 and later, it is a 64-bit application, installed in . Windows Internal Database is not available as a standalone product for use by end-user applications; Microsoft provides SQL Server Express and

Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft SQL Server is a proprietary relational database management system developed by Microsoft using Structured Query Language (SQL, often pronounced "sequel"). As a database server, it is a software product with the primary function of ...

for this purpose. Additionally, it is designed to only be accessible to

Windows Service In Windows NT operating systems, a Windows service is a computer program that operates in the background. It is similar in concept to a Unix daemon. A Windows service must conform to the interface rules and protocols of the Service Control Manag ...

s running on the same machine. Several components of Windows Server 2008 and 2012 use Windows Internal Database for their data storage: Active Directory Rights Management Services, Windows System Resource Manager, UDDI Services, Active Directory Federation Services 2.0, Remote Desktop (standalone) Connection Broker, IPAM and Windows SharePoint Services. On Windows Server 2003, SharePoint and

will install Windows Internal Database and use it as a default data store if a retail SQL Server database instance is not provided. A Knowledge Base article published by Microsoft states that Windows Internal Database does not identify itself as a removable component, and provides instructions how it may be uninstalled by calling

Windows Installer Windows Installer (msiexec.exe, previously known as Microsoft Installer, List of Microsoft codenames, codename Darwin) is a software component and application programming interface (API) of Microsoft Windows used for the Installation (computer ...

directly. SQL Server Management Studio Express can be used to connect to an instance of Windows Internal Database using \\.\pipe\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE\sql\query (2003–2008) or \\.\pipe\MICROSOFT##WID\tsql\query (2012) as instance name. But this will only work locally, as Remote Connections cannot be enabled for this edition of SQL Server. ''Also note that "Windows Authentication" should be used (as opposed to SQL Server Authentication), and administrators seem to have the best results of authenticating successfully when logged on using the same administrative account that was created when Windows was installed.''

References

External links

Planning and Architecture for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Technology

Release Notes for Microsoft Windows Server Update Services 3.0

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{{MS DevTools SQL Windows Server 2008 Windows components