Decide on a SQL Server edition

Microsoft® SQL Server® Express is a free edition of SQL Server and is easy to install and prepare for use compared to the other SQL Server editions.

The installation wizard installs Microsoft SQL Server Express 2022 unless SQL Server is already installed on the computer. When you install XProtect VMS as an upgrade, the wizard keeps the previous SQL Server installation.

To check if your system meets the requirements for SQL Server editions, see https://www.milestonesys.com/systemrequirements/.

For very large systems or systems with many transactions to and from the SQL Server databases, Milestone recommends that you use the Microsoft® SQL Server® Standard or Microsoft® SQL Server® Enterprise edition of SQL Server on a dedicated computer on the network and on a dedicated hard disk drive that is not used for other purposes. Installing SQL Server on its own drive improves the entire system performance.