Cannot completely install/remove SQL Server Express

I cannot use, remove, or reinstall Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Although Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files appear in ControlPanel-ARP, when I attempt to remove Microsoft SQL Server 2005, the workstation component remains. If I try to download and reinstall Microsoft SQL Server Express from the Microsoft website, the download does not install completely as described below.

My current situation is much better than the previous incompatibility or configuration problems I had been experiencing between Microsoft Office Small Buisness Accounting 2006, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, Outlook Business Contact Manager, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (express edition installed in conjunction with Visual Basic 2005 express), and Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (installed in conjunction with Small Business Accounting 2006). The problems and error messages previously included: 1) A consistent bootup error (Net service configuration error...The specified service does not exist as an installed service); 2) The inability of Visual Basic to connect to an instance of SQL server (An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server...); 3) a SQL server configuration manager error: Cannot connect to WMI provider. You do not have permission or the server is unreachable. Note that you can only manage SQL Server 2005 servers with SQL server configuration manager. Invalid namespace [0x8004100e]; and 4) SQL server management studio express error: Cannot connect to <computername>\SQLEXPRESS... An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server. When connecting to SQL Server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: -1).

These problems have been partially solved by: 1) completely removing Small Business Accounting 2006, Outlook Business Contact Manager Update, and MSDE (which appear to be codependent); and 2) removing and reinstalling Visual Basic 2005. However SQL Server still cannot be completely removed or reinstalled and therefore Visual Basic cannot connect to SQL datafiles.

When I most recently tried to remove SQL server 2005 using ARP, the installer reported that only the workstation component remains (Version: 9.00.1399.06 Edition: Express Edition Patch level: 9.00.1399.06), but is not removed by the ARP process. When I most recently tried to install SQL server 2005, the Setup Support Files install correctly, the System Configuration Check passes, but setup fails for MSXML6, SQL Server Database Services, and WorkStation components Books Online (detail log SQLSetup0068 file). According to Add/Remove programs, the following applications are installed:

Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition ENU
Microsoft SQL Server Native Client
Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files (English)
Microsoft SQL Server VSS Writer
Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Various MSXML versions

Any help in un/reinstalling or configuring Microsoft SQL Server 2005 for use with Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition would be dearly appreciated. Thanks.

Thank you for the above references, but following up on my previous post, I am stuck attempting to remove SQL server 2005 manually as described by http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909967. Because SQL Server 2005 Express will not uninstall or reinstall from ARP and the error messages I get are different from the procedure outlined in KB909967, I would appreciate further help in cleaning up this installation. The status of things are as follows:

Directory structure: C:/Program Files/Microsoft SQL Server/ has /80, /90, and /MSSQL.1 subdirectories.

Error logs: A search of C: shows no Sql_uninstall.log or Sqlredist_uninstall.log

ARP installed programs status is as follows:

Microsoft SQL Server 2005: ... Will not remove from ARP list. Components installed shows no Server instances, workstation component cannot be removed.
Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support files: ... Installed - did not attempt to remove yet.
MSXML 6.0 Parser: ... Installed - did not attempt to remove yet
SQLXML4 - SP2 KB925672: ... Installed - did not attempt to remove yet
SQLXML4 - SP2 KB927978: ... Installed - did not attempt to remove yet

The following were successfully removed from ARP:

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward Compatibility: removed successfully
Microsoft SQL Server Native Client: removed successfully
Microsoft SQL Server VSS Writer: removed successfully

A registry search shows the following GUIDs under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall...

{50A0893D-47D8-48E0-A7E8-44BCD7E4422E} - Microsoft SQL Server Native Client
{53F5C3EE-05ED-4830-994B-50B2F0D50FCE} - Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files (English)
{A4512736-8D63-4298-9271-5329931FA46B} - Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express
{C0D2F614-5CE5-4DCB-8678-E5C9AF7044F8} - Microsoft SQL Server VSS Writer
{no GUID shown} - Microsoft SQL Server 2005

When I use the following command to try and remove Microsoft SQL Server VSS Writer,

start /wait msiexec /x {GUID} SKIPREDISTPREREQS=1 /l*v c:\sqlredist_uninstall.log

I get an error message "This action is only valid for products that are currently installed"

Any ideas