Upgrade SQL Server
Applies to: 
SQL Server - Windows only
You can upgrade instances of SQL Server 2012 (11.x), SQL Server 2014 (12.x), SQL Server 2016 (13.x), SQL Server 2017 (14.x), or SQL Server 2019 (15.x) directly to SQL Server 2022 (16.x). For SQL Server 2008 (10.0.x) and SQL Server 2008 R2 (10.50.x), you'll either need to do a side-by-side upgrade, or a migration, to move to SQL Server 2022 (16.x) as there's no common overlap between a supported mainstream operating system. Before running setup to upgrade, review the following articles about the upgrade process and the release notes.
Check out what's new in each version of the product:
- SQL Server 2022 Release Notes
- SQL Server 2019 Release Notes
- SQL Server 2017 Release Notes
- SQL Server 2016 Release Notes
Support for SQL Server 2012 (11.x) ended on July 12, 2022. For new end of support options, see New options for SQL Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 End of Support.
If you're upgrading from an end-of-support version of SQL Server, such as SQL Server 2008 (10.0.x), SQL Server 2008 R2 (10.50.x), and SQL Server 2012 (11.x), see the end of support options.
Upgrade documentation
The following articles help you upgrade components of SQL Server:
- Supported Version and Edition Upgrades
- Prepare for upgrade by running Data Migration Assistant
- Upgrade Analysis Services
- Upgrade Database Engine
- Upgrade Data Quality Services
- Upgrade Integration Services
- Upgrade Master Data Services
- Upgrade Power Pivot for SharePoint
- Upgrade Replicated Databases
- Upgrade and Migrate Reporting Services
- Upgrade SQL Server Management Tools
- Upgrade SQL Server using the Installation Wizard (Setup)
- Upgrade to a different edition of SQL Server (Setup)
- SQL Server end of support options
Related content
- Upgrade Database Engine
- Upgrade Analysis Services
- Upgrade and Migrate Reporting Services
- Upgrade Integration Services
- Upgrade Replicated Databases
- Upgrade Master Data Services
- SQL Server 2008 R2 Best Practices Analyzer
- Backward Compatibility