Cannot uninstall sql server 2012 on Windows 7

Question

This is the error a co-worker gets when trying to uninstall SQL Server 2012. She is running Windows 7 Professional
Service Pack 1, 64 bit OS. She had SQL 2008 installed and then installed 2012 Enterprise as well, because she needed it for a project. The problem is we don't have a license for local instances of Enterprise, so we need to install it. However,
2012 Setup is telling us we don't have the minimum requirements to *install* 2012. Which leads to some interesting questions:
1) Why does the 2012 installer allow you to install but not uninstall when you don't meet system requirements?
2) How does that make any sense?
3) Does she really need to install more software to be able to uninstall? Since SP1 is already installed, what would that be?
Thanks!
Joe

Answer 1

Hello,
In theory, if Windows 7 has SP1 then it is compatible with SQL Server 2012.
Please try to use the procedure explained on the following article:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143412.aspx
If that article does not help, please perform the following steps to manually uninstall SQL Server 2012:
1. Uninstall all SQL Server 2012 components you can using Control Panel -> Programs and Features
2. Backup the registry.
3. Delete the following keys in regedit:
--HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server
--HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer
4. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall and delete all the sub-keys referencing SQL Server.
5. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services and delete all the keys referencing SQL Server.
6. Rename all the SQL Server folders in the computer like
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server and subfolders.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Alberto Morillo
SQLCoffee.com