I don’t need to validate SQL Server installations on a regular basis. When the need arises, my preference is to run the SQL Server features discovery report. Further, I prefer to run it from the command line. After looking up command line parameters one too many times, I decided to script it out.
It turns out the script commands are a little more complicated than I realized: there is a different setup.exe file for each version of SQL Server installed. I ended up making two script versions: a DOS batch file with hard-coded paths, and a PowerShell script that’s more robust. Check them out and let me know what you think. (Keep scrolling down for a report sample image.)
I’m not sure I’ve ever run that report, but now I know how to do it from Powershell.