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Uninstall a Cumulative Update from SQL Server

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SQL Server

This article describes how to remove a Cumulative Update (CU) from a stand-alone instance of SQL Server, on both Windows and Linux.

To uninstall SQL Server on Windows, see Uninstall SQL Server.

Considerations

  • To remove a CU on SQL Server, you must be a local administrator.

Prepare

  1. Back up your data. Create full backups of all databases. The master database contains all system level information for the instance, such as logins, and schemas. The msdb database contains job information such as SQL Server Agent jobs, backup history, and maintenance plans. For more information about system databases, see System databases.

  2. Stop all SQL Server services. We recommend that you stop all SQL Server services before you uninstall a Cumulative Update. Active connections can prevent successful removal.

  3. Use an account that has the appropriate permissions. Sign in to the server by using the SQL Server service account or by using an account that has equivalent permissions. For example, you can sign in on Windows with an account that is a member of the local Administrators group. On Linux, you should run the commands using the root account.

Remove a Cumulative Update on Windows

Depending on the version of Windows you're using, you can access the list of installed updates in several ways.

Locate the list of installed updates

For Windows Server 2016, Windows 10, and later versions:

  1. Open the Start menu, and type update history.
  2. Select View update history from the search results.
  3. Select Uninstall updates.

For older versions of Windows, navigate to Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates.

Remove the Cumulative Update

Depending on the version of Windows you're using, you can remove the CU from the list of installed updates by either selecting the Uninstall option next to the update, or by right-clicking on the update and selecting Uninstall.

Follow the instructions to remove the CU. You may be prompted to restart your computer after the CU is removed.

Remove a Cumulative Update on Linux

To uninstall a Cumulative Update on Linux, you must roll back the package to the previous version.

To roll back or downgrade SQL Server to a previous release, use the following steps:

  1. Identify the version number for the SQL Server package you want to downgrade to. For a list of package numbers, see the release notes:

  2. Downgrade to a previous version of SQL Server. In the following commands, replace <version_number> with the SQL Server version number you identified in step one.

    Platform Package update command(s)
    RHEL sudo yum downgrade mssql-server-<version_number>.x86_64
    SLES sudo zypper install --oldpackage mssql-server=<version_number>
    Ubuntu sudo apt-get install mssql-server=<version_number>
    sudo systemctl start mssql-server

Note

It is only supported to downgrade to a release within the same major version, such as SQL Server 2022 (16.x).

In the event of failure

If the removal process fails, review the SQL Server Setup log files to determine the root cause.

Next steps