In order to use Primavera P6 Professional, you must first set up a database. There are several different types of databases available, depending on how you will be utilizing the program.

If you plan to use Primavera P6 as a standalone user, you will want to set up a SQLite Database. This type of database allows just one user to access it, rather than multiple collaborators. The SQLite Database comes prepackaged with P6. Essentially, this will be set up for you when you download Primavera P6 as a standalone installation. SQLite is the easiest database to use, but it does come with downsides. For one, you won’t be able to add other users to the program. Any P6 features involving other users, such as Security Profiles, are not accessible in this database type. If P6 is being utilized for a whole company, you may need multiple people accessing the same projects within the database. This is not possible with a SQLite database.

If you’re planning to collaborate with others in Primavera P6, you will want to use a SQL Server Database. This is a shared database that allows multiple users to access the same project data. With SQL Servers, all the features of the program will be available – including Users and Security Profiles. However, not all users will necessarily be able to access the same data. The application administrators can pick and choose which users have access to specific projects. For workplaces, SQL Server databases are generally required. The only downside to using a SQL Server is the installation process. This server type is not prepackaged and instead must be set up manually.

Setting up a SQL Server can be a cumbersome process, as it requires the installation of several different applications. Many users choose to outsource this process – which is a service we provide here at Taradigm. However, it is possible to do it on your own – as long as you follow these steps in order:

1. Install a copy of Microsoft SQL Express on your computer  
2. Install a copy of Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) on your computer  
3. Setup the TCP/IP port on your SQL Express server  
4. Download the Primavera P6 Database Setup Tool  
5. Download and Install Java  
6. Set up the environment variable for JAVA_HOME  
7. Run the dbsetup.bat tool  
8. Connect your P6 Professional Client to the database

In this article, we will outline the process of setting up a Microsoft SQL Server database for Primavera P6, following these steps.

Step 1: Install a copy of Microsoft SQL Express on your computer

The first thing you will need to do is install a copy of Microsoft SQL Express Server onto your computer. You can download the newest version, Microsoft SQL Express 2022, for free on Microsoft’s website here.

In the lower right hand corner, under the section for Express, select Download now.

The application will automatically begin to download. Within your Downloads folder, double click on the .exe file to start the installation process.

The SQL Server Express Edition window will open.

First, you’ll need to choose an installation type. Because you will need to adjust some of the installation settings along the way, select Custom.

This will open up the SQL Server Installation Center where you can specify how you want the program installed.

To start, choose the New SQL Server stand-alone installation or add features to an existing installation option.

The SQL Server Setup window will open. For the most part, you will just press Next to continue with the installation, except for the following sections:

Instance Configuration

When you get to the Instance Configuration step, select Named Instance.

The default named instance, SQLExpress, will already display here. However, you can change this name if desired. This will be the name used in the SQL Server’s installation path. If you do adjust this named instance, make sure to make note of the name you choose, as you will need to use it again later in the process.

Once the named instance has been set, select Next to continue.

Database Engine Configuration

When you get to the Database Engine Configuration step, under Authentication Type, select Mixed Mode.

Enter and confirm a password for the SQL Server administrator. Make sure to write this password down, as you will need to use it when you add a new database to the server.

Under Specify SQL Server administrators, the current user for your PC will display. It’s a good idea to write down the full administrator name (PC name\user) as you will need this to continue setting up the database later on. 

Once again, select Next to continue.

Continue the installation using the default settings by selecting the Accept and Next buttons as prompted. With the installation successfully completed, you will see the following dialog box:

Select Close to exit out of the SQL Server Installer.

Step 2: Install Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) on your computer

You will also need to download Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) before continuing. You can find this on the Microsoft website here.

Under the Download SSMS header, you should find a link to download the software. Click the link and the file will automatically begin downloading.

Double click on the .exe file in your Downloads folder to run the installation.

Within the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Installation window, select Install.

Run through the installation using the default settings.

Test your installations

You should now have both Microsoft SQL Server Express and Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio installed. Now, you should test the programs to ensure they were properly installed.

To do this, open the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio application. You can find this in your Windows Explorer under Recently Added programs, or by using the search bar. This file should now also be available within your computer’s Program Files.

The program will prompt you to log in to the SQL Server. Under Server name, you’ll find the server instance you created during the Microsoft SQLServer Express installation. Under Authentication, you can choose to log in using either Windows Authentication or SQL Server Authentication. With Windows Authentication, you won’t have to enter in any credentials. With SQL Server Authentication, you will need to enter in a Username and Password. The Username will be sa (standing for Server Administrator). The password will be the password that you had set up during the Microsoft SQL Server Express installation process.

I recommend keeping Windows Authentication selected to make this easier.

Select Connect.

If you do not receive an error message, you have successfully logged into the SQL Server. 

Step 3: Setup the TCP/IP port on your SQL Express server

Next, you need to set the TCP/IP port for the SQL Express server. Without completing this step, you will not be able to properly set up a database.

To do this, open up the SQL Server Configuration Manager. This application is available from the Microsoft SQL Server program files. Once again, use your Windows Explorer to either search for the program, or access the Recently Added programs.

In the SQL Server Configuration Manager, select the arrow next to SQL Server Network Configuration. Then, select Protocols for SQLExpress underneath. If you renamed your server instance during creation, that name would display instead of SQLEXPRESS.

On the right side table, right click on TCP/IP and select Enable.

A dialogue box will prompt you to restart the service. Select OK – you will do this in just a moment. Before restarting, right click on TCP/IP again and select Properties.

In the TCP\IP Properties window, click on the IP Addresses tab. Scroll down to the bottom of the window until you get to the IPAll section. In the text field for TCP Port, type in 1433.

Then, click OK. Once again, a dialogue box will appear, prompting you to restart the SQL Server service. Select OK to exit out of this dialogue box.

You can now restart the SQL Server Service directly from within the Configuration Manager. To do this, select the SQL Server Services option from the left side table. In the right side table, right click on SQL Server (SQLExpress) and select Restart.

Once the SQL Service has restarted, you can close out of the SQL Server Configuration Manager.

Step 4: Download the Primavera P6 Database Setup Tool

If you don’t already have Primavera P6 Professional installed on your computer, you will need to do that now. If you need a license of Primavera P6, you can contact us here for assistance. We can assist you in both acquiring a license and getting the program downloaded onto your computer.

When you download Primavera P6, you will be downloading three zipped files. One file is for the Applications, one is for the Database Setup, and one is for the Integration API. While downloading these files, take note of the Database Setup zip file name. For me, this file was V1005948-01.zip.

Once you have downloaded the files, you should find all 3 zipped folders in your Downloads. Find the folder for the Database Setup, right click on it, and select Extract All. This will allow you to open these files later on.

Step 5: Download and install Java

Next, you need to download and install Java. You download Java for free from the Java website here. Select Agree and Start Free Download and the program will download to your computer.

When the download is complete, double click on the .exe file in your Downloads folder. Run through the installation by pressing Install.

Once the program is successfully installed, you should see the following window:

Step 6: Set up the environment variables for JAVA_HOME

With Java installed, you now need to define the JAVA_HOME environment variable in Windows. If this is not done, you will not be able to use the P6 Database Setup tool.

To set up the JAVA_HOME environment variable, first open up your Windows Control Panel. If you can’t find your Control Panel, once again, use the search bar on your Windows bottom toolbar.

In the Control Panel window, use the search bar to search for “system”. In the search results list, select Edit the system environment variables. This will be the first result under the System category.

The System Properties window will open with the Advanced tab selected. Select the Environment Variables button.

In this window, select the New button underneath the lower System Variable section.

Within the New System Variable window, type JAVA_HOME in the Variable name field. In the Variable value field, enter the name of the path to the Java applications program folder on your computer. For me, this was C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_311. This most likely will be in your Program Files. 

To find this location, open up your Windows Explorer and access your local disk. Search through the Program Files folder and the Program Files (x86) folder until you find the Java folder. Open up the Java folder and the program folder within it (this will most likely start with jre). Once in that folder, select the address listed in the location string box and copy that text.

With that location copied, paste it into the Variable value field and select OK.

You can now exit out of the Control Panel windows.

Step 7: Run the dbsetup.bat tool

You can now run the Primavera Database Setup tool.

To do this, return to the Database Setup folder you downloaded along with Primavera P6. If you’ve been following the instructions so far, you would have already extracted this folder. It should now be available from your Downloads folder. The name of this folder will vary depending on the version of P6 you’ve downloaded. For me, this folder was V1005948-01. Open up the folder and the folder within it. Again, this folder will vary depending on the version of P6 downloaded, but for me, this was P6_R2012_Database. In that folder, find the file named dbsetup.bat and double click on it.

The Primavera Database Setup Wizard will automatically open. This will walk you through the process of setting up a new database.

Under Database options, keep Install a new database selected.

Under Server Type, select Microsoft SQL Server.

Then, select Next. 

In the Connection Information screen, you’ll need to enter in the username and password you specified when setting up the SQL Server earlier. You would have done this back in Step 1 of this guide.

By default, DBA username will fill in with sa (standing for server administrator). Keep this field as it is. 

In the DBA password field, enter in the password that you had chosen when creating the SQL Server.

Within the Database host address field, enter in the host address for the SQL Server you created earlier. This will generally be your computer’s name\SQLExpress, if you had used the default named instance during creation. If you had changed the named instance during creation, the host address would be your computer’s name\named instance. The Database host port field will automatically fill in with 1433. Keep this field as it is and press Next.

In the Configure Microsoft SQL Server window, you’ll need to set a name for your database. You can give your database any name. In this example, I’m going to create a database specifically for training, so I’ll set my database name as PPMTRAIN. 

The Data File, Log File, and Database code page fields will fill in automatically. Leave these fields as they are and select Next.

In the Create SQL Server Users window, you can set up two default users – a privileged user and a public user. You can change these usernames if desired, but I recommend leaving them as the default privuser and pubuser. After you connect P6 to the database, you’ll be able to add additional users, so it’s best to keep the defaults for now.

Make note of both these usernames and passwords – you will need them to connect P6 to the database. With your passwords entered in, select Next.

In the Configuration Options window, enter in a username and password for the administrator. Again, you can change the username, but I recommend keeping the default of admin. Enter in a password, and, again, make note of this password, as you will need it to log in to Primavera P6.

You also have the option to Load sample data. If you keep this checked, P6 will preload with sample projects, resources and calendars. I find this data to be very useful, especially for new P6 users, so I recommend keeping this option selected.

Under Currency, you can choose which default currency type to use for the program. You can change this within P6 as well, if you need to adjust it later on. Then, select Install to complete the database setup wizard.

The Database Setup Wizard will begin to build your database. If you chose to load the sample data, this may take a few minutes to complete. Once finished, select Next, and then Finish to exit out of the application.

Step 8: Connect your P6 Professional client to the database

At this point, you have now successfully created a Primavera Database on a SQL Server. Next, you will need to connect Primavera P6 Professional to the database so you can use it within the program.

If you do not have P6 installed on your computer:

Return to your Downloads folder.

When you downloaded the Primavera P6 install files, you’ll recall that there were three folders. By default, the program downloads a folder for the Database setup, one for Integration API, and one for the application itself. At this point, you’ll need to find the folder that holds the application itself. This folder will generally have a subfolder named P6_Pro_####, depending on the version downloaded.

For me, this folder was V1005947-01.zip. Just like you did for the database folder, right click on this folder and select Extract All.

The extracted folder will automatically open.

Double click on the P6_Pro folder within it. This folder’s name will vary depending on the version of P6 downloaded. For me, this folder was named P6_Pro_R2012.

Within that folder, double click on the P6ProfessionalSetup folder. Find the application file called P6ProfessionalSetup.exe and double click on it.

In the P6 Professional Setup window, keep Typical selected and select OK.

Then, select Install to install the application.

In the next screen, you’ll be able to set up the program. By default, Run Database Configuration will be selected – keep this selected and press OK.

The Database Configuration window will automatically open.

If you already have P6 installed on your computer:

You can access the Database Configuration window by opening up Primavera P6 Professional. Within the log in window, select Edit database configuration.

In the Database Configuration window, select Add.

Under Driver Type, choose Microsoft SQL Server/SQL Express if it’s not already selected.

In the Database Alias field, you can enter in a name for the database. It’s generally useful to have this alias match the database name you set earlier. In this example, I’ll set this alias to PPMTRAIN, matching my database.

Under Connection String, enter in the connection string for your database. This will be your Computer Name/Database Name. For me, this would be DESKTOP-54SV0M/PPMTRAIN.

Under Keystore, keep Use default database keystore selected.

Then, select Next to Continue.

In the next window, you’ll need to enter in your public username and password. These should match the public user credentials that you set up during the database’s creation. If you didn’t change the default public user username, you should set the Username as pubuser.

Under Password, enter in the password that you had assigned to the public user.

To check if these login credentials are correct, select the Test button. If everything checks out, a dialogue box will let you know that the connection was successful.

Select OK, and then Save.

Another dialogue box will appear, informing you that the Database Alias has been saved.

Select OK, and then Exit to exit out of the Database Configuration window.

At this point, you have successfully created a SQL Server Database and connected it to Primavera P6.

Logging in to a new Primavera P6 database

You can now log in to Primavera P6 Professional and use your newly created database. Once again, open up Primavera P6 Professional. Under Login Name and Password, enter in the credentials you set during database creation.

Select Advanced to expand the section. Under Database, select the database you just created if it’s not already selected.

Select Connect, and you will now have access to your database in Primavera P6. You can now begin to administer the program for other users to access.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please use the comment section on the bottom of this page. Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog to get more Primavera P6 tips & tricks directly in your inbox!

Lauren Hecker is the instructor for the Primavera P6 Professionals training courses. To see her next open enrollment course, please visit our calendar. To schedule an onsite or custom course, please contact us!