I had a heck of a time trying to install Visual Studio (any recent version, it didn’t matter to me) without having to install SQL Express. I develop and use another computer for SQL, so i didn’t want to have my system running SQL in the background. I guess i’m just a stickler for a clean system, with a little running as possible. Anyway, Finally was able to do it, by using the Microsoft Web Installer – the trick was to search for “Visual Studio Express Web Only”. Once I found that, I was able to install that, which didn’t require SQL, and also installs the software so I’m able to edit web pages, create web apps and all that. Still testing it out, but so far so good.

Web Site Projects is almost always preferred (for me personally), here’s why:

Web Site Projects

• Ability to update individual files in production by just copying new versions to the production server, or by editing the files directly on the production server using text editor like emacs.
• Ability to open the production site in Visual Studio and update it in real time by using FTP.
• Do not have to explicitly compile the project in order to deploy it.

Web Application Projects (just in case)

• Ability to run unit tests on code that is in the class files that are associated with ASP.NET pages.
• You want to avoid putting source code on a production server.

Source

At some random point during the weekend, SQL Server (SQL Server 2008 R2) stopped, and users were no longer able to connect. Investigated the server, and service wasn’t started. Tried starting manually (Run->cmd->service.msc->SQL Server->Start), but got this error:

Windows could not start the SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) on Local Computer. For more information, review the System Event Log. If this is a non-Microsoft service, contact the service vendor, and refer to service-specific error code 1814.

Looked in the error log, and this was the more ‘service-specific’ error:

The SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) service terminated with service-specific error The specified resource name cannot be found in the image file..

Which was even less helpful.

Checked the SQL Server error log (C:\Program Files\SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.MSSQLServer\MSSQL\Log\ERRORLOG\), which had various information, the important stuff being:

Error: 927, Severity: 14, State: 2.
Database 'model' cannot be opened. It is in the middle of a restore.
Could not create tempdb. You may not have enough disk space available. Free additional disk space by deleting other files on the tempdb drive and then restart SQL Server. Check for additional errors in the event log that may indicate why the tempdb files could not be initialized.


Tried different Logon Accounts, tried restarting server, same error. Finally after googling, was able to piece together various solutions, and this worked:

C:\Users\administrator>net start mssqlserver /T3608
The SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) service is starting.
The SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) service was started successfully.

C:\Users\administrator>


Restarted the server, for good measure, and all is working fine. I have no idea what went wrong, but at least with a few simple commands it started working again. sigh.

UPDATE 10/11/2012: Seems issue is with creating a backup maintenance plan and checking “backup tail of the log option” of the transaction log portion. This can put various Databases into Restore mode, which they can hang. If you can get into SSMS using the normal (Start Menu) or the method above (first cmd and start sql in /T3608 mode) then running this command fixed my issues: “RESTORE DATABASE model WITH RECOVERY”. Source

This may not be compeltely correct, but most often I need to unzip files of the type: *.tar.gz.. And since I always forget the command and options, here it is:

tar -zxvf filename.tar.gz

This will unzip the files into the current directory.

I always forget these steps, don’t quite flash my phone enough I guess. But for future reference, here’s the easy steps to wipe everything and start over:

1. Boot into recovery
2. Wipe Data / Factory Reset
3. Mounts and Storage -> Format / System
4. Advanced -> Wipe Dalvik Cache

At this point you can install a new zip rom, restore from backup, whatever.