Try to contact the store that sold you the product.
Reinstall of SQL server 2016 - lost product key
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(73.60000000000001, 57.99999999999999%, 17%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EPT%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Phillip Trimble
1
Reputation point
We had a server crash and did a complete rebuild of server 2016. Also reinstalled sql server 2016. We purchased the server and sql from Dell.
We lost our product key/license and need to know how to retrieve or who to contact to get the product code for proper registration.
SQL Server | Other
{count} votes
-
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(28.799999999999997, 2%, 12%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ESX%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Seeya Xi-MSFT 16,676 Reputation points2022-01-26T07:51:52.62+00:00 Hi @Phillip Trimble ,
We have not received a response from you. Did the reply could help you? If the response helped, do "Accept Answer". If it doesn't work, please let us know the progress. By doing so, it will benefit all community members who are having this similar issue. Your contribution is highly appreciated.
Best regards,
Seeya
Sign in to comment
3 answers
Sort by: Most helpful
-
-
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(67.2, 1%, 16%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ETP%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Tom Phillips 17,781 Reputation points2022-01-24T13:03:50.53+00:00 A SQL Server license is simply a piece of paper. It is not installed, managed or monitored by SQL Server.
-
Phillip Trimble 1 Reputation point
2022-01-24T19:24:03.253+00:00 The reason I asked is, I don't want SQL Server to simply STOP working after 180 days or so.
I guess I am speaking more of a product key, than a license. I'm sorry if I misspoke.
I reinstalled from the original CD, but did not have the cd sleeve/product key, which appears to be lost/missing. -
Erland Sommarskog 128.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator2022-01-24T23:07:18.527+00:00 So what does "SELECT @@version" return right now?
-
Tom Phillips 17,781 Reputation points
2022-01-25T13:16:55.257+00:00 The product key is either embedded in your installation code, or prompted during installation. If you did not enter a key during installation, then it was embedded.
Only the trial edition has a time limit. Unless you installed the trial edition, there should not be any problem.
Sign in to comment -
-
Seeya Xi-MSFT 16,676 Reputation points
2022-01-25T03:03:22.003+00:00 Hi @Phillip Trimble ,
If you didn't clean the registry and back it up before, there may still be a product key left.
As an example:
And look for key value ProductCode.Best regards,
Seeya
If the answer is the right solution, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".
Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.-
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(64, 51%, 16%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EPK%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Papp Károly 106 Reputation points2022-09-20T11:42:37.337+00:00 But it does not look like as a product key.
Sign in to comment -