How to detect SQL Server Express in WiX installer
Ok, I found by trial and error option that works:
<Property Id="SQLSERVER">
<RegistrySearch Id="SQLServer" Root="HKLM" Key="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Sql Server" Type="raw" Name="InstalledInstances"/>
</Property>
I define a registry search, and then check its value:
<Condition Message="You don't have SQL Server installed.">
<![CDATA[SQLSERVER >< SQLEXPRESS]]>
</Condition>
I tried Krzysztof's solution (above) - but on some machines when using this approach it wasn't correctly detecting when they did not have Sql Express installed.
It looked to be caused by mishandling of the REG_MULTI_SZ InstalledInstances registry value?
As I was checking to see if I needed to stop/restart the Sql Server Express service in the installer, I decided to just check against that instead - so here's my alternative, where I just check for the service instead:
<Property Id="SQLEXPRESSINSTALLED" >
<RegistrySearch Id="IsSqlExpressServiceInstalled" Root="HKLM" Key="SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS" Name="Description" Type="raw" Win64="no"/>
</Property>
<Condition Message="Express Not Installed">SQLEXPRESSINSTALLED</Condition>
<Condition Message="Express Installed">NOT SQLEXPRESSINSTALLED</Condition>
Bit of a hack, but seems to work well enough for our customers (were using the conditions within components, rather then the example Launch conditions shown above)