>"Well, this is a real fine mess you've gotten us into Ollie!"
>
>I installed SQL Server after installing Visual Studio 2008 and 2010. I never could get the SQL Server Manager (or whatever it is called) to install. The installation completely bypassed it.
>
>So, I thought, "What the heck. I'll uninstall SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2008 and 2010." I tried to uninstall all of these but some things would not allow removal.
>
>I reinstalled SQL Server 2005 (Developer) and it still has not fully installed; hours and hours today have been utterly wasted. Now I've got a huge mess of partially installed remnants of SQl Server the two latest Visual Studios, now a complete useless mess.
>
>What can I do to cleanly uninstall SQL Server and the two visual studio installations?

Check

How to: Uninstall an Existing Instance of SQL Server (Setup)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143412.aspx

SQL Server 2008 installation fails when you try to install SQL Server a second time
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955404