Running VS2003, VS2005, SQL2000 and SQL2005 on the same machine

We have some great tools at our fingertips but not all customers can migrate to 2005 right now so we need to not only be able to develop in 2005 but support our existing customers in VS2003/SQL2000.

One solution is to use Virtual PC. I've used it since 2004 and it does work well enough. The quirks are managable but performance can be problematic. And unless you're running a Quad, you really should only run one VPC session at a time. Virtual PC Server is better, but still the same concept.
Microsoft already had this in mind when they began to prepare the 05 release. You CAN run both sets side by side. There are only a couple of minor things to do to make this a much better development environment.

To make this happen, you should install the software in this sequence:
Prerequisite: a. Make sure IIS is already installed and running.

1) Install SQL 2000 and then install the latest service pack
2) If you need Reporting Services, then install it now (along with any service packs)
3) Install VS2003 full install
4) On the installed SQL2000 go to Server Network Utility and enable just the TCP/IP protocol. If Named Pipes is also enabled, disable it.
5) Now run the installer for SQL2005 and install just the Client Tools (Workstation Tools and Documentation Option in the installer).
6) Once the client tools are installed, go to Start->Run->SQLServerManager.msc and enable the Shared Memory in the Client Protocols section under SQL Native Configuration
7) Now run the SQL2005 installer. Please ensure that the account under which the services are run is an administrator of the machine and has all rights.
8) Reboot
9) Install VS2005 full install
10) Reboot

You know have a machine that you can develop in both VS2003/SQL2000 and VS2005/SQL2005.
Note that you can swap between ASP 1.1 and ASP 2.0 using the ASPNET_REGIIS utility or even better use Denis Bauer's ASP.NET Version Switcher. It's a breeze!