Hello, Thank you in advance to anyone who can help, I've been studying my butt off to try to get SQL certified to try to get a job in the field and this has put me at a stand still.
I installed SQL Server 2017 on my C: drive. I was running low on space and saw the option to compress my C drive at the expense of slower speeds. I did not know it would affect my SQL server instance. The next time I tried to add a table to my database it gave me an error which I eventually traced back to being related to the compression. I decompressed my C drive and regained the ability to work.
Today I tried to connect to my database server with SSMS (on the same device the server is located on by the way same as I always do) and it won't connect and says the system cannot find the file specified.
I assumed this was related to the compression/decompression so I tried to uninstall and didn't find SQL Server 2017 anywhere in my programs, although there are supporting programs like "Browser for SQL Server 2017", "Microsoft SQL Server
2017 T-SQL Language service", etc. The next logical step was for me to attempt to install it and create a new instance. When I tried to install it I got the error:
Unable to install SQL Server (setup.exe)
Exit code (Decimal): -2054422498Exit message: The specified directory, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\" for the INSTALLSHAREDWOWDIR parameter is not valid because this directory is compressed or is in a compressed directory.
The problem is I am positive I have decompressed the drive and the Program files directory. I don't even have the option to decompress them because they are already decompressed