SQL Server Upgrade (2019 to 2022, Express) - old version remains

Question

I've just upgraded a couple of SQL Server 2019 Express instances to the 2022 version. Seems to have upgraded OK - can see the databases in SSMS, and the build number which that shows is for SQL Server 2022, but in control panel / programs & features it shows both SQL 2019 and 2022 as installed - not the sort of behaviour I would expect for an in-place upgrade.

OS is Windows Server 2022

Anyone else encountered this? I've not tried uninstalling the 2019 version case it breaks the 2022 instance.

Thanks

Answer 1

My gut feeling tells me that this is expected, but I can agree that it looks a little ugly with both versions there.

And, no, don't try uninstalling SQL 2019, unless this is a VM you can clone and fool around with on the clone.

We have some machines at my client that I've upgraded in-place first from SQL 2017 to SQL 2019 to SQL 2022. I'm going look tomorrow see what they have in Programs and Features.

Answer 2

but in control panel / programs & features it shows both SQL 2019 and 2022 as installed

That's quite normal that part of the older SQL Server versions remains on the system, no need to worry and no need for any action; keep it as it is.

Answer 3

Thanks both.

Question which follows on from that - does the 2019 version still need patching? We use WSUS and normally I would remove product categories from that once we no longer had any of that version in use.

Answer 4

Eventually the penny dropped, and I realised that our previous answers have been inaccurate.

The reason you see both SQL 2019 and SQL 2022 is because of the shared features (Integration services, Client SDK and a few more things).

I made a test where I installed one instance of SQL 2019 and immediately upgraded that instance to SQL 2022. When running the upgrade, it seemed that I had the choice to only upgrade the shared features, but I did not try that. After the upgrade, I indeed had both SQL 2019 and SQL 2022 in Programs and Features. At this point, I tried running Setup again to perform an edition/version upgrade. But my attempt stopped at the page where I select features. Only Integration Services was listed with a checkbox. But there was also some text that said that there was nothing to upgrade, and when I pressed Next, I got an error message about validation errors on the page.

Next, I tested with going into Programs and Features and uninstall SQL 2019. Now I could select five features to uninstall, and I selected all five. The uninstall ran smoothly. And after the uninstall, SQL Server 2019 is gone from Programs and Feature. (The Microsoft SQL Server 2019 T-SQL Language Service is still there, though.) I made a quick test by connecting to the instance, and that worked. But who knows, maybe something else broke.)

I did not test to apply a Cumulative Update for 2019. But if you keep the shared features, yes, you may want to keep them up to date.