Microsoft posted on April 18, 2006 the RTM version of Service Pack 1 for SQL Server 2005 Developer, Workgroup, Standard, Enterprise, and Express editions. Get the lowdown on SP-1's added features, ...

I'd probably install VS first, *including* SQL Express, then install SQL 2005 Developer edition as the default SQL Server instance. SQL Express has enough purposes to keep around.

PowerShell offers a lightweight and efficient solution for backing up SQL Server Express databases on local workstations without the need for full system backups.

After I finished installing SQL Server, I installed the SQL Manager from the file downloaded earlier. To do this, I selected "Perform a new installation of SQL Server 2012" and accepted all defaults ...

SQL Server 2005 Express Edition will replace Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine as the software maker's lightweight database offering of choice.

Don't need an enterprise-grade database on the cloud? Microsoft offers Azure customers a low-cost, lightweight SQL server option for testing and purposes and apps.

SQL Server Express can be installed as part of the App Volumes Manager installation. This is helpful, as the installation process isn't well documented when using a remote SQL Server.