Attempts to install Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Edition fail on a computer that is already running another more recent instance of SQL Server Desktop. The installation progress indicator moves forward to the point of failure, then begins to move backward as the installation is rolled back. An inspection of the installation log file reveals that setup is failing during the attempt to load the library SEMNT.DLL.

During the installation a log file is written to "C:\Program Files\Compleat Botanica\DesktopEngine\Setup\CBDestopEngine.log".

An inspection of the log reveals lines similar to this:
   Starting custom action InstallSQLAgentSecurity
   LoadLibrary failed for C:\Program Files\Compleat Botanica\DesktopEngine\
       MSSQL$CompleatBotanica\Binn\SEMNT.DLL.
       GetLastError() returned: 126
   Action ended 19:11:30: InstallFinalize. Return value 3.
   Action 19:11:30: Rollback. Rolling back action:

Details of this problem are available from Microsoft at: Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 299351 "BUG: MSDE Installation Fails on Systems That Have SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 1 or 2 Installed".

This problem occurs on systems which already have one or more instances of SQL Server Desktop Engine installed and those instances have been patched with more recent service packs.

Here are the service pack identifiers and version numbers of SQL Server Desktop Edition

You can solve this problem by disabling the existing installations of SQL Server Desktop Engine before attempting to run STEP 1 of the Compleat Botanica setup.

You can also solve this problem by temporarily renaming the newer versions of five files then installing the Compleat Botanica. After successfully installing the Compleat Botanica delete the five files that were just installed (the older versions) and rename the temporary copies (the newer versions) back to their original names. The five files are:

• \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\Binn\Resources\1033\Semnt.rll
• \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\Binn\Resources\1033\Sqlsvc.rll
• \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\Binn\Semnt.dll
• \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\Binn\Sqlsvc.dll
• \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\Binn\Sqlresld.dll