I am trying to install MSDE on a laptop running XP and on attempting to setup MSDE I get the message:
"Please go to the Control Panel to install and configure system components".
Can someone help me with this?
Thanks

This is probably a reach, but perhaps it is telling you to use the Add/Remove programs app in the control panel. If you have XP setup in a multiuser mode (can XP act just like Terminal Server?) then (at least in TS multi-user mode) you need to add programs via the Add/Remove app so that the OS can then adjust the newly installed app to conform to the multi-user environment. This is not required on a server where TS is enabled for admin users only, which is why I find it odd that your error sounds like a TS server error, on a single user desktop OS. But things are getting fuzzy these days in this realm.

Good Luck!