I'm sure that this has been asked before but I'm having trouble finding a meaningful answer through any combination of keywords I can think of in Google.
I've just started installing SqlServer 2008 R2. It got as far as the 'Server Configuration' page in the setup wizard. It wants to know what account name and password to use for various services. The conceptual problem I'm having is I haven't a clue as to what the passwords for NT Authority\Network Service is. I never created the account. It is just one of those many dark and secret things that Windows does for you during installation. I did see one suggestion to the effect that 'LocalSystem' would be appropriate. Again, I have no idea what its password is and I am somewhat reluctant to blindly assert a password to it which could easily break some other service's startup.
How do most people who have a clue about these things handle this sort of problem? And should SQL Server Agent be Automatic or Manual? It is defaulting to Manual. I would have thought Auto would have been correct.
Richard Lewis Haggard