[chadcf]

The last time I tried to install it, it was a nightmare. This was a few years ago before they put helpful explanations of what different versions mean, so the first time I picked the wrong one. After installing it and realizing that I tried to get the right version but it wouldn't install. Some issue with the other version being installed, so I uninstalled the other version.

Only then I discovered you can't actually uninstall SQL Server. I mean, you can tell it to uninstall, it'll go through the motions and look like it uninstalled, but it won't actually uninstall. And you can't install another version until you uninstall the other version, which doesn't actually uninstall.

I think at this point I either had to go in and manually kill processes and delete files and registry entries, or I just reinstalled windows on my VM, I don't remember. I do remember it being a nightmare and once I got it working I vowed to never reformat or update again.