I am installing Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate and I am doing a custom installation where I can choose the tools I want and install it in the preferred installation directory.
I am only in need of visual c++ and the graphics library. That’s all i need as I am just starting to learn c/c++. Despite choosing just two tools, it installed SQL server compact and a bunch of other components which I didn’t ask for. This is consuming a lot of disk space in the C: drive where Windows is installed. I need at least 5 GB of free space on the C: drive for future Windows update but now I am left with only 3 GB.
Question:
1)Why does visual studio install sql server along with the c/c++ compiler? And why did it occupy space in the directory which I didn’t specify?
2) Is it safe to uninstall sql server and its components?
I am aware that .NET framework is necessary for visual studio to run.
SQL Server Compact is used internally by some Visual Studio components. I think InteliSense database is one of them, storing metadata information about projects in your solution (look for *.sdf files, those are SQL Server Compact databases). So I would definitely not advise you to uninstall SQL Server Compact.
The same is true for other SQL Server components installed by Visual Studio, although maybe to lesser degree. Visual Studio components using them may not be needed in your case, and if they are needed they should let you know by giving you the right error message. One component I wouldn’t touch is SMO (SQL Server Management Objects).
If you installed SQL Server Express (not Compact) it is absolutely safe to get it uninstalled.