When I installed the latest beta of SQL Server 2005 and ran the Merge Replication wizards to create a Publication, I got a strange new error not present in previous betas. The error said that the “XP Agents are not enabled and you must run sp_configure to enable them.”

I figured that MS did the right thing and turned this feature off by default. I ran the new SQL Server Surface Area Configuration Tool and could not find anything for enabling XP Agent stored procedures, etc. I did find a lot of good stuff disabled by default that will make SQL Server more secure. This is good since by default out of the box an installation of SQL Server will leave some of the advanced, yet powerful tools disabled to deny a hacker the ability to guarantee that it will be turned on.

So in my case, MS turned it (XP Agents) off but do not give a way in the tool to enable it. After some trial and error and help from help I got this to make it all work and my publication agent ran smoothly:

You can't just run sp_configure, you first have to turn on advanced options so SQL Server knows it exits:

use master
go
sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1;
GO
RECONFIGURE;
GO
sp_configure 'Agent XPs', 1;
go
RECONFIGURE
GO

It is good that this stuff is turned off by default, it will just mean a little more time for us developers to setup and deploy. Worth the tradeoff.