All versions SQL Server Registry Key [closed]

Question

Is there any registry value that i could check to see if there is any version of SQL Server installed? I want to check a single value...not a value for 2005 another one for 2008 etc.

Answer 1

I've had the same problem. I don't think there's a 'one stop shopping' location for this.

What really complicates this is the concept of named instances - where you can have multiple versions of sql installed on the same machine.

For example:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\Inst1\MSSQLServer\CurrentVersion
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\Inst2\MSSQLServer\CurrentVersion

For SQL 2008, at least, you can enumerate the list of instances at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\Instance Names\SQL