Question

I’ve googled a day but the question is still question: how to detect SQL Server 2008 R2 on various Windows versions:

• via registry (would be our favorite solution),
• via file system,
• via installer exit code?

Installer developed with NSIS. Some additional informations:

Registry

Samples on the net are out of date or simply improper. Not just R2 but 2k8 detection is problematic too.

File system

I have no idea what files are especially from 2k8 R2.

Installer exit code

In some cases exits without error code (i.e. prerequisites missing).

Answer 1

you could use the WMI to listy all the microsoft product installed and then you could look foe the one you need

public static class MyClass
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            ManagementObjectSearcher mos = new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * FROM Win32_Product");
            foreach (ManagementObject mo in mos.Get())
            {
                Console.WriteLine(mo["Name"]);
            }


        }
    }