I know that MSDE can be installed as a named instance. I've seen the WSS install do it. I don't know if the feature is available through the setup wizard.

Check out the topic Customizing Desktop Engine Setup.exe in the SQL Server BOL. It discusses a commandline option INSTANCENAME="instance_name"

-Mike

>Hi,
>
>I have MSSQL 2000 installed on my laptop with windows XP Pro, Since the regular Enterprise Edition would not installed I used the MSDE version.
>
>Now I need a second instance of MSSQL and I don't seems to be able to do that. I took my CD and went to the MSDE subdirectory, from there I start setup.exe but I get the error message "The instance name specified is invalid" even before I get a chance to give it a any name.
>
>A) Is it possible to have multiple instance of MSDE's SQL like on a regular enterprise installation?
>
>B) If yes, can somebody help me out?
>
>
>Thanks,
>Diane Robitaille