Cant upgrade from SQL express

Question

Hi when i run the upgrade process there is not option to select the instance I wish to upgrade.

The procedure runs and seems to ignore the SQL express instance and its directory. I cant make any customisations during the upgrade procedure

Answer 1

Hi @Gerry Walsh ,

Do you want to upgrade to a different edition of SQL Server?
If not, you can select Installation in the right panel -> Upgrade from a previous version of SQL Server in the SQL Server Installation Center of the version you want to upgrade to.

Then you will see the upgrade wizard and you can make any customizations.

In addition, please refer to Supported version & edition upgrades which might help.

Best Regards,
Amelia

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Answer 2

I also had that issue when trying to upgrade SQL Express 2014 to 2016, for me the problem was missing SQL msi files in C:\Windows\Installer directory, so I restored msi cache by using **FixMissingMSI **tool as described here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/database-engine/install/windows/restore-missing-windows-installer-cache-files. After that installer was able to see my instances and upgrade them.