Thanks for the encouragement. A fresh installation did the trick as opposed to adding new features to an existing installation. Thanks again!geoff

I've hit the wall! Can some one show me the correct means to implement BIDS 2008. I have vs 2008 Pro and SQL Server 2008 Express with advanced tools. In my installation of SQL SERVER I selected ALL components but still I can find NO reference to BIDS on my PC. Is there a file or location I can at in order to confirm that BIDS is installed but might not be showing itself. Is there a reason why this process is so convoluted, difficult and badly documented? It is as if the work experience Vista engineers have been given another task ..... or is it just me? Thanks in anticipation.geoff

Do you actually see BIDS as a Shared Feature during installation? See point 5: http://www.sql-server-performance.com/2010/sql-server-2008-r2/

No I see no reference to it at all and it is the Express with Advanced Features that I'm dealing with. The Shared Features are just Management Tools - Basic and the SDK I think. geoff

Hi To test this, I fired up a VM and downloaded SQL Server 2008 Express with advanced features from the URL below. Then installed which installed BIDS quite happily. http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=1842 Try uninstall and re install.