Can we upgrade from 2005 to 2016 directly

Question

Can we upgrade from 2005 to 2016 directly

Answer 1

Hi @Chaitanya Kiran ，

You cannot upgrade from 2005 to 2016 directly, or you can choose upgrade to 2008 or 2014 first, like (2008 Version and Edition Upgrades), You can use the "upgrade in place" feature of SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008. SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Technical Reference Guide can help you, and run the SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Wizard, which will point out common problem
and then upgrade to 2016

It looks like very complicated, so it is recommended that restore SQL Server 2005 database to 2016, this is the operation supported by SQL Server 2016

SQL Server 2016 will be able to do the following:
Attach a SQL Server 2005 (9.x) database (mdf/ldf files) to SQL Server 2016 (13.x) instance of database engine.

Restore a SQL Server 2005 (9.x) database to SQL Server 2016 (13.x) instance of database engine from a backup.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/install-windows/supported-version-and-edition-upgrades?view=sql-server-ver15#-edition-upgrade

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Answer 2

No.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/install-windows/supported-version-and-edition-upgrades?view=sql-server-ver15

Answer 3

It is unlikely that you can do an in-place upgrade, since I don't think there is an operating system that supports both.

However, you can restore a database backup from SQL 2005 on SQL 2016 without need for intermediate steps.