Can SQL 2008 R2 and a SQL express installation coexist on same machine without problems?

I have SQL 2008 R2 on my computer and it works fine with the database. If I install Visual Web Developer 2010 express it says I have to install SQL Express , per it is a dependency. I would prefer to only install web developer.

Will an express installation effect my current installa开发者_运维知识库tion's operation at all?

Yes they can coexist as they will be installed as separate services - see this forum post

Officially, they can coexist.

Unofficially, my experience with a joint installation is painful. SQL Server patches would fail mysteriously on machines with a joint install. Sometimes you could find fix information in a KB article, sometimes not. Sometimes reinstalling SQL Server worked, sometimes an OS reinstall was required.

You can take the risk on a development server, but I wouldn't do this in production.