Installing Microsoft SQL Server

When you ran the installation for PHDwin, you should have received a prompt about installing Microsoft SQL Server. If you chose the “No” option or you need to install a different version of SQL Server, this section covers doing a manual install of Microsoft SQL Server. The steps to install Microsoft SQL Server are slightly different than installing SQL Server Express, which is covered in a separate section. PHDwin V3.1.20 ships with SQL Server 2025 Express, which we recommend for all new installations. Microsoft SQL Server 2016 and newer are supported.

To Run the Installation:

Double-click on the file named SQL2025-SSEI-Expr.exe to begin the installation. Select Custom then Install.
This will open the SQL Server Installation Center – click on New SQL Server stand-alone or add features to an existing installation.
Review and accept the license terms and click Next.
On the Product Updates page – check the box to Include SQL Server product updates if there are any and click Next.
Choose Perform a new installation of SQL Server 2025 and click Next.
Accept the License Terms and click Next.
Choose the Database Engine Services at the very minimum and click Next.
Use the default instance or choose to name the instance on the Instance Configuration page.
Leave both accounts to automatically start up and click Next.
Set up the security mode and specify any SQL Server Administrators on the Database Engine Configuration page.
Choose if you’d like to send error reports to Microsoft and click Next.
Complete the installation and hit Close on the Complete page.

Note that the instance name cannot contain any special characters (besides underscore) or spaces. It is also important to leave the SQL Server Browser to start automatically if you are installing on a server. This means that the instance will show up when users browse for an instance to connect to within PHDwin.