In this post, we will see how to prepare a slipstreamed installation of SQL Server 2008 RTM with its Service Pack 1.

What?

A slipstreamed version is in reality an installation package modified to integrate product updates such as service packs.

More and more Microsoft products allow to make this procedure and to be honest with you it becomes really simple to prepare slipstreamed package on your own.

Why?

I’m sure you already know why we do this kind of thing! Of course, it allows to deploy a product with its service pack integrated, so no need anymore to install the product and then the desired service pack. Products such as MOSS 2007 are very easy to slipstream thanks to a dedicated “updates” folder. Concerning SQL Server 2008, it is also quite simple.

Procedure step by step

IMPORTANT: this example uses the default language of SQL Server 2008 setup, so the English package. So if you use a localized setup, be careful to download the corresponding service pack and edit below commands according to your own needs.

First, copy installation content of SQL Server 2008 RTM setup to a temporary folder. Let’s say C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1 On the right a snapshot of the SQL Server 2008 setup, root folder.
Download SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 from the following address: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=66ab3dbb-bf3e-4f46-9559-ccc6a4f9dc19&displaylang=en We highly recommend to download SP1 for each architecture and not only for the one you are supposed to use.	SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-IA64-ENU.exe SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-x64-ENU.exe SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-x86-ENU.exe
Once downloaded, you need to extract package source for each service pack executable package. You can use the following commands from a command prompt (cmd, powershell) to proceed. It will extract the SP1 source of each architecture to a new created folder, named “PCU”	SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-IA64-ENU.exe /x:c:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\PCU SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-x64-ENU.exe /x:c:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\PCU Server2008SP1-KB968369-x86-ENU.exe /x:c:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\PCU
Next step, you have just to copy/paste the setup.exe and setup.rll files from the PCU folder to the SQL Server 2008 root folder (it should be the parent folder of PCU if you respected the different steps).
Now, the last step is to update the files of each architecture. From PCU\<Architecture> you copy all files (not folders) except Microsoft.SQL.Chainer.PackageData.dll and paste them in root folder\<Architecture. If you ve respected the different paths of this post, it should be from C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\PCU\<Architecture> to C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\<Architecture>
Your files are now updated, final step is to define the PCU source folder. You have just to open the DefaultSetup.ini file contained in each architecture folder. Relative path You can indicate the PCU Source as a relative path but you will have to launch the installation from the setup path to proceed. Absolute path You can also use an absolute path, very practical if you know the full path and if it does not change constantly.	Relative path example: PCUSOURCE=".\PCU" Absolute path example: PCUSOURCE=”\\Server\Products\SQLServer2008SP1\PCU”

Now your slipstreamed installation of SQL Server 2008 SP1 is ready! You can use this installation on a shared folder on your network or to make an ISO for example

Vincent