SQL Server Migration Assistant
A Microsoft tool designed to automate database migration to SQL Server from Access, DB2, MySQL, Oracle, and SAP ASE.
553 questions
Can't uninstall SQL 2022
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White, Susan
0
Reputation points
First Q&A made me select a child tag and none applied, so since I was trying to upgrade from 2019 express to 2022 express unsuccessfully, I selected Migration Assistant.
My installation got stuck on sql engine core, and the only Q&A I found related was here https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2102017/sql-server-2022-database-engine-services-wont-inst. So, I ended the install and was going to uninstall. Now I can't uninstall due to error (see uploaded screenshot).
I don't know what else to do. Haven't found any helpful instructions. Please assist. It's very frustrating.
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Erland Sommarskog 117.8K Reputation points MVP2025-02-26T22:18:25.3433333+00:00 Yeah, the tag-selection process is broken for SQL Server currently.
So you tried to upgrade from SQL 2019 to SQL 2022, but this failed? And now you are trying to uninstall?
Before you go the uninstall path, let's dig into why your upgrade attempt failed. In C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\160\Setup Bootstrap\log there is one log per installation attempt. The files of most interest are detail.txt and summary.txt. Feel free to attach them here.
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White, Susan 0 Reputation points
2025-02-27T13:05:41.6833333+00:00 Thanks for answering Erland!
I ended up giving up on trying to work out a solution for this (there were no useful logs by that time due to uninstall efforts). I uninstalled 2019 and instead of trying again to fully uninstall 2022, I repaired and re-installed using the installation center tool (which strangely did not come up in the first install).
That install succeeded and I was able to finish "upgrading" that way. Obviously not ideal, took the better part of a day, but at least I was able to accomplish what I set out to do. I really appreciate you taking the time to try to help.
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White, Susan 0 Reputation points
2025-02-27T13:09:09.7033333+00:00 Thanks for your reply Erland! I responded with the exact path I used to recover from this, but somehow this system lost it, so trying again.
There weren't any useful logs by that time. I ended up uninstalling 2019, repairing and re-installing 2022 with the installation tool (which wasn't how it was originally installed - I used default which kept getting stuck), and everything went clean.
I'm up and running now. Less than ideal and took the better part of a day, but it worked. Hopefully my trials and tribulations will help the next poor soul with a similar issue.
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