BCM v2 on Sql Server 2005

And many other good bcm-database-on-server installation tips here.

To run BCM v2 on Sql Server 2005, I would first consider installing Service Pack 4. Although SP4 is intended for folks upgrading from Xp to Vista, or upgrading from BCM integrated with Small Business Accounting to Micorsoft Office Accounting, the major change with SP4 is migration from Sql 2000 MSDN (not supported on Vista, nor with MOA) to Sql 2005 Express SP2. On a good day the upgrade should go smoothly. If not, read the article linked to above.

BCM vs Avidian

Only users with a certain level of business acumen and experience should try BCM.

The toughest part of installing Outlook 2007 with BCM is extracting the CD from its hard plastic case, which must have been designed by a sadist. I nearly resorted to attacking it with a hammer before finally flipping it open.

Create an account from a business contact

"With the Business Contact Record open, click on the "Account" button under the section lettered "Linked Account" (just above where the phone #'s are. This will open a dialog box enabling you to create a new Account to link to Bob. Click on the "New" button inside of this dialog box and BCM will automatically create a new Account record linked to Bob with most of the data fields populated from Bob's record."

Hat tip: mrtimpeterson

.NET failures? Try reinstalling .NET

If you get an error like this,

Business contact manager failed to initialize the common language runtime Ecall methods must be packaged into a system module,

try reinstalling .NET.

How to do that on Xp and Vista is explained here.

Hat tip: Lon Ornstein

Problems installing Sql Server?

If BCM Setup is failing because Sql Server Express won't install, then you can try installing SQL manually. That way you'll get the sql setup user interface and it can guide you through any problems it finds, or at least tell you about them so you don't have to go hunting for the problem in the install log files.

Go to the folder where the BCM setup.exe is. Look in a folder named SSE for a file named SQLEXPR.exe and double click on it to run the Sql install.

Once Sql is installed, run the BCM setup again and it'll create BCM's Sql instance and install BCM.