I would remove SQL Express. I think you can remove it without touching VS.

>Thanks for the help, Craig.
>
>It turns out after I installed VS 2005 that it also installed sqlexpress. I need to have sql 2005. I'm reluctant to remove sqlexpress since it was installed with vs 2005, and sometimes removing something piecemeal is not advised.
>
>Do you (or anyone else) know if it's recommended to:
>
>1 - just leave sqlexpress there,
>2 - uninstall it separately from vs2005, or
>3 - uninstall vs2005 and re-install with a customer installation so sqlexpress is left out?
>
>Thanks again.