Question

I just want it to return
1
2

WITH 
CTE1 AS
(
    select value
    UNION ALL
    select value=value+1
    FROM CTe1
    WHERE value =2
)

select * from cte1

how come that doesnt work.

Answer 1

The following will print out 1, 2:

WITH 
CTE1 AS
(
    select 1 as value
    UNION ALL
    select value=value+1
    FROM CTe1
    WHERE value = 1
)

select * from cte1

The problem was that value was not defined for your first CTE clause. I assume you wanted 1. Then the second CTE clause self-references the first one and adds 1.