Installing Windows SQL Express Server 2016

Question

I am having an issue installing Windows SQL Express Server 2016, when I try to run setup.exe, it tells me that:

"The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows that you are running. Check your computer's system to see whether you need x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of this program, then contact the software publisher"

I am running Windows 7, 32-bit, but I was never prompted to select this either from Microsoft's website or from the installer that I downloaded, so I assumed it automatically figured it out. Where can I get the 32-bit version?

Answer 1

The last SQL Server that still support Windows 7 is SQL Server 2012 . The next version, SQL Server 2014, already requires Windows 8 . So you'll have to use SQL Server Express 2012.