By: Greg Robidoux | Last Updated: 2018-01-16 | Comments (23) | Related Tips: 1 | 2 | 3 | More >SQL Server Configurations
On the left side of the SQL Server Installation Center, choose Tools. On the right side, choose Installed SQL Server features discovery report. The report will open in your default web browser. Use this report to determine your SQL Server instance name, version, edition, and more information.
Problem
One issue that I am often faced with is determining what service pack is installed on the SQL Server. In this tip we look at how to find the version of SQL Server that is running and also what service pack or hotfix is installed.
Solution
There are a few ways to determine the version of SQL Server that is installed which we will cover in this tip.
How to tell what version of SQL Server you are running?
- One simple way to do this is to run SELECT @@version
- Another option is to right click on the SQL Server instance name in SSMS and select Properties
- You can also use the SERVERPROPERTY function to get details about the version of SQL Server
- Check out all of the methods in this tip.
Method 1 - to find SQL Server version
The first is by using either Enterprise Manager or SQL Server Management Studio and right clicking on the instance name and selecting Properties. In the general section you will see information such as on the following screenshots. The 'Product version' or 'Version' gives you a number of the version that is installed. As you can see with the SQL Server 2000 screenshot it also shows you the service pack that is installed.
SQL Server 2000
SQL Server 2005
SQL Server 2008 / 2008 R2 / 2012 / 2014 / 2016 / 2017
This will look similar for all of these versions.
Method 2 - to find SQL Server version
Another option is to run the T-SQL command to give you this information. As you can see the output from the different versions is pretty much the same. The one thing that you do not get when you do this is the Service Pack name like you do in Enterprise Manager.
When this is run it will give you information such as the following:
SQL Server 2000
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 - 8.00.760 (Intel X86)
Dec 17 2002 14:22:05
Copyright (c) 1988-2003 Microsoft Corporation
Developer Edition on Windows NT 5.1 (Build 2600: Service Pack 2)
Dec 17 2002 14:22:05
Copyright (c) 1988-2003 Microsoft Corporation
Developer Edition on Windows NT 5.1 (Build 2600: Service Pack 2)
SQL Server 2005
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - 9.00.1399.06 (Intel X86)
Oct 14 2005 00:33:37
Copyright (c) 1988-2005 Microsoft Corporation
Developer Edition on Windows NT 5.1 (Build 2600: Service Pack 2)
Oct 14 2005 00:33:37
Copyright (c) 1988-2005 Microsoft Corporation
Developer Edition on Windows NT 5.1 (Build 2600: Service Pack 2)
SQL Server 2008
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (SP1) - 10.0.2573.0 (X64)
Feb 4 2011 11:27:06
Copyright (c) 1988-2008 Microsoft Corporation
Developer Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.1 (Build 7601: Service Pack 1)
Feb 4 2011 11:27:06
Copyright (c) 1988-2008 Microsoft Corporation
Developer Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.1
SQL Server 2008 R2
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (RTM) - 10.50.1600.1 (X64)
Apr 2 2010 15:48:46
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
Enterprise Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.0 <X64> (Build 6002: Service Pack 2)
Apr 2 2010 15:48:46
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
Enterprise Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.0 <X64> (Build 6002: Service Pack 2)
SQL Server 2012
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 - 11.0.2100.60 (X64)
Feb 10 2012 19:39:15
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
Web Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.1 <X64> (Build 7601: Service Pack 1) (Hypervisor)
Feb 10 2012 19:39:15
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
Web Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.1 <X64> (Build 7601: Service Pack 1) (Hypervisor)
SQL Server 2014
Microsoft SQL Server 2014 - 12.0.2254.0 (X64)
Jul 25 2014 18:52:51
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
Developer Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.1 <x64> (Build 7601: Service Pack 1) (Hypervisor)
Jul 25 2014 18:52:51
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
Developer Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.1 <x64> (Build 7601: Service Pack 1) (Hypervisor)
SQL Server 2016
Microsoft SQL Server 2016 (RTM) - 13.0.1601.5 (X64)
Apr 29 2016 23:23:58
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
Developer Edition (64-bit) on Windows 10 Pro 6.3 <x64> (Build 14393: )
Apr 29 2016 23:23:58
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
Developer Edition (64-bit) on Windows 10 Pro 6.3 <x64> (Build 14393: )
SQL Server 2017
Microsoft SQL Server 2017 (RTM) - 14.0.1000.169 (X64)
Aug 22 2017 17:04:49
Copyright (C) 2017 Microsoft Corporation
Developer Edition (64-bit) on Windows 10 Pro 10.0 <X64> (Build 16299: )
Aug 22 2017 17:04:49
Copyright (C) 2017 Microsoft Corporation
Developer Edition (64-bit) on Windows 10 Pro 10.0 <X64> (Build 16299: )
Method 3 - to find SQL Server version
Another option to determine what version of SQL Server is installed is to look at the version of the SQL Server files. This is an option if SQL Server is not running and you need to find the version.
Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder where SQL Server is installed such as 'C:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL ServerMSSQL10.SQL2008MSSQLBinn', for SQL Server 2008.
Find file sqlservr.exe and right click and select properties and a window will open like the one below. Here we can see that this file is version 10.0.2573.0.
Method 4 - to find SQL Server version
One of our readers, Ben Pomicter, also suggested this method using the SERVERPROPERTY function.
When run it returns results similar to the following:
What do these SQL Server Version Numbers Mean?
So now that you have this number such as 9.00.1399.06 or 8.00.760 what do these even mean? The first digits refer to the version of SQL Server such as:
- 8.0 for SQL Server 2000
- 9.0 for SQL Server 2005
- 10.0 for SQL Server 2008
- 10.5 for SQL Server 2008 R2
- 11.0 for SQL Server 2012
- 12.0 for SQL Server 2014
- 13.0 for SQL Server 2016
- 14.0 for SQL Server 2017
Here are a couple of links to other articles that give you the details of what is installed for SQL Server 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017 based on the version number that is returned.
- SQL Server Builds and Service Pack Information (this is the most complete list)
Next Steps
- Keep these links handy to determine what version of SQL Server you are running
Last Updated: 2018-01-16
About the author
Greg Robidoux is the President of Edgewood Solutions and a co-founder of MSSQLTips.com.
View all my tips
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