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Multiple (un-used) SQL versions on single server

Bill Clark 181 Reputation points
2021-08-24T15:09:18.513+00:00

I have a server with a single application that has multiple SQL server entries listed in Programs & Features (as seen in the image below).

126093-sql-installs.jpg

When working with SQL on this server, I only have the "SQL Server Management Studio" for version 2008R2. When that launches though, I can see that the version it shows as being active is 13.0.1601.5, which translates to SQL v2016. From what I can tell, there is only a single instance of SQL running on this server. What would be the best way to remove the older versions of SQL installed on this server, so I only have v2016? Should I re-run the 2016 Setup and select the "missing" pieces; ie "SQL Server Management Studio", native client, etc.? Then remove 2008 & 2008R2 versions?

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A family of Microsoft relational database management and analysis systems for e-commerce, line-of-business, and data warehousing solutions.
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  1. Erland Sommarskog 105.9K Reputation points MVP
    2021-08-24T21:46:30.307+00:00

    To start with, what do you see in SQL Server Configuration Manager? To me it seems that you have one instance of SQL 2016 and one of SQL 2008 R2.

    SQL 2016 does not ship with SQL Server Management Studio, but starting with this version, SSMS is a separate download, and you can get the latest version, 18.9.2 here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssms/download-sql-server-management-studio-ssms. You can install it side-by-side by existing versions.

    If you think that you are missing pieces of your SQL 2016 installation, you would rerun Setup to add features.

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  1. YufeiShao-msft 7,081 Reputation points
    2021-08-25T07:17:52.267+00:00

    Hi @Bill Clark ,

    You seem to have both 2008 and 2016 versions of SQL Server, and you are mainly using the 2016 version.

    If you want to uninstall 2008 version, it is recommended that you use Remove Program in Control Panel to uninstall SQL Server.
    Before you remove SQL Server, follow these steps:
    Back up your data. Although this is not a required step, you might have database that you want to save in their present state, in either situation, make sure that you back up the data before you uninstall SQL Server.
    Delete the local security group.
    Stop all SQL Servers.
    Use an account that has the appropriate permission.

    To uninstall an install of SQL Server 2008 R2, you can refer to this document:

    1. click Control Panel>Uninstall a program, and then select the SQL Server component, right-click Microsoft SQL Server(Version)(Bit) and select Uninstall.
    2. select Remove on the SQL Server dialog pop-up to launch the Microsoft SQL Server installation wizard.
    3. On the Select Instance page, use the drop-down box to specify an instance of SQL Server to remove, or specify the option to remove only the SQL Server shared features and management tools. To continue, select Next.
    4. On the Select Features page, specify the features to remove from the specified instance of SQL Server.
    5. On the Ready to Remove page, review the list of components and features that will be uninstalled. Click Remove to begin uninstalling
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  2. Olaf Helper 42,846 Reputation points
    2021-08-25T07:33:15.627+00:00

    On version upgrade, e.g. 2008 R2 => 2016 some old shared components remain on the maschine, that's quite normal; better leave it as it is.

    With 2008 R2 also SSMS was installed. Meanwhile SSMS comes as separate installer, you can get it from Download SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)