I have a brand-new Mac laptop with an Apple M2 chip. I have installed Parallels and installed Windows 11 under parallels.
I have made a few attempts to install SQL Server 2019 Express on this Windows 11 OS, but every attempt have failed. Is it possible to have a copy of SQL Server (of any version) installed on a Windows 11 OS which is running on top of Apple M2 chip?
It is possible to install and run SQL Server Express 2019 and 2022 on the Apple M1 chip, but it is not officially supported. Fortunately, the root cause of the issue is not in the SQL Server itself, but in the installation. I've created a script which will install SQL Server Express on Windows 11 in a Parallels VM on Apple M1. You can find it here MSSQLEXPRESS-M1-Install.
You can install SQL server on Mac M1 Pro or UTM-Windows 11 virtual machine on Mac M1 Pro by following steps
Download zip file containing install2022Developer.bat and install2022Developer.ps1 files from this link in your system https://github.com/jimm98y/MSSQLEXPRESS-M1-Install
Run the install2022Developer.bat using Terminal - CMD or Powershell
how to run bat files refer this link https://www.wikihow.com/Run-a-Batch-File-from-the-Command-Line-on-Windows
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssdt/download-sql-server-data-tools-ssdt?view=sql-server-ver16
You can use SQL Server Express 2014 Download SQL Express 2014 here
download the 32 bit (x86) and use the defaults for installation process with one exception
** USE MIXED MODE and enter an SA password **
When you run the second file (SQL ServerManagementStudio_x86_ENU.exe) it will open 
. select the first option and Select modify/upgrade the SQL Express instance that you just added. Add all the DB Management tools in the next screen. Both pieces of the install will take some time, so don't give up on it even if it seems to be hung.
When you open SQL Server Management Studio, you may get this... I'm not sure what to do with this, but if you have suggestions, please add in comments.
It did not prevent me from being able to login and create a database.
As of Parallels 20, there is a Knowledge Base article on how to do this. It does require Parallels Business as it needs Ubuntu x86_64 to be installed, but I recently tried switching to using Docker on MacOS and it's been working pretty reliably so far. The only thing I haven't tried is turning on the SQL Agent but I can do restores and backups, and I've fiddled with the registry in Windows to get aliases working.
Here are the steps I followed:
docker run -e "ACCEPT_EULA=Y" -e "MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=VeryStr0ngP@ssw0rd" --name sql -p 0.0.0.0:1433:1433 -d --platform linux/amd64 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest to get a basic instance of SQL Server running. You can add volumes to persist the data. I add the arguments -v sql_server:/var/opt/mssql -v ~/Downloads:/var/backups so that the data folder persists and so that backups I download are immediately available within the container.Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Client\ConnectTo. Add a new String key with the name of the alias, and the data set to DBMSSOCN,10.211.55.2,1433. Where 10.211.55.2 is the IP address of the MacOS host machine through Parallels.Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Client\ConnectTo.You should be able to connect via SSMS immediately once this has been set up, but it might require a restart. I've been working like this for a few weeks without issue, so it's totally doable and it's been able to keep up with what I've put it through so far.
I hope this helps anyone in a similar situation to mine.
