(replied to this earlier, but it didn't show up, so trying this again)

I received the same error during installation. I'm running full SQL server in a production environment for several web sites (including DNN).

I was able to just bypass the check by commenting out the lines in the file InstallWizard.aspx.cs and installation progressed normally.

[quote=JonW;59]I was able to just bypass the check by commenting out the lines in the file InstallWizard.aspx.cs and installation progressed normally.
[/quote]

What lines of code did you have to comment out? It's odd that you would have to do that while others do not. Especially since the code is very standard .NET code.

I commented out the lines that perform the actual version check:

//database actions check-running sql 2008 or higher
details = Localization.Localization.GetString("IsValidSqlServerVersionCheck", LocalResourceFile);
if (!InstallController.Instance.IsValidSqlServerVersion(connectionString))
_connectionResult = "ERROR: " + string.Format(Localization.Localization.GetString("IsValidSqlServerVersion", LocalResourceFile), details);

Unfortunately, I have yet to be able to duplicate this myself. If anyone can help find a root cause and resolution for this, they should create an issue so it can be fixed permanently. However, this appears to be an environmental issue so far, and not a product issue.

https://github.com/HotcakesCommerce/cms

I was finally able to install HCC using JonW method by commenting out version check in InstallWizard.aspx.cs file, but as Will stated this was probably environmental issue since on this particular machine there was an SQL server 2008 installation prior to installation of SQL 2012. On other machine with SQL 2012 I was able to install HCC without any problems.
Thanks for your help guys.