With our folder monitor being overrun (processing taking to long) we brain-stormed numerous ways to get over 50,000 images to process (our load test) without dropping an image.   A team member suggested SQL Server 2005 Notification Services as a possible solution. Thus began my adventure to create a prototype; samples are not installed by default and they aren't as easy to install as one might think....

I've come to gain a huge respect for Microsoft Tutorials; I find they consistently save hours of time and now (more than ever) provide an abundance of information and details.   As I opened the tutorial for Notification Services it told me I had to setup SMTP and install the Samples.   I installed the SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition CD and selected tools (I'm running from memory) and after some churning and burning it came back with a dialog box that told me I had process Sql Server Tools from the control panel's programs feature.  This is where the fun started because there is no SQL Server Tools in the program list.

Longgggg story short - you have to remove SQL Server 2005 (I needed to get the samples installed so was going to uninstall everything and reinstall).  If this sounds odd to you, that you have to remove SQL Server 2005 to install your samples, then we think alike - you really don't have to remove SQL Server 2005 but this isn't readily apparent and I never would have figured it out had I not been so frustrated that I decided to remove it.... to my surprise the SQL Server 2005 REMOVE button results in a checkbox list of items to remove - one of them being SQL Server Tools!!!

I unstalled SQL Server Tools, went back to the installation process, had it install everything and was happy to see my samples folder and files!  After hours of effort I was ready to work.