SQL Server 2008: Upgrading to Standard/Enterprise Edition from Evaluation Edition
I often get asked about upgrading SQL Server 2008 Evaluation Edition to a retail edition such as Standard or Enterprise Edition. This is very well documented at the below SQL Server books online link:
How to: Upgrade to a Different Edition of SQL Server 2008 (Setup)
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc707783.aspx
Below are the main steps, using the Setup , edition upgrade wizard.
- Insert the SQL Server installation media. From the root folder, double-click setup.exe or launch the SQL Server Installation Center from Configuration Tools. To install from a network share, locate the root folder on the share, and then double-click Setup.exe.
- To upgrade an existing instance of SQL Server 2008 to a different edition, from the SQL Server Installation Center click Maintenance, and then select Edition Upgrade.
- If Setup support files are required, SQL Server Setup installs them. If you are instructed to restart your computer, restart before you continue.
- The System Configuration Checker runs a discovery operation on your computer. To continue, click OK.
- On the Product Key page, select a radio button to indicate whether you are upgrading to a free edition of SQL Server, or whether you have a PID key for a production version of the product. For more information, see Editions and Components of SQL Server 2008 and Version and Edition Upgrades.
- On the License Terms page, read the license agreement, and then select the check box to accept the licensing terms and conditions. To continue, click Next. To end Setup, click Cancel.
- On the Select Instance page, specify the instance of SQL Server to upgrade.
- The Edition Upgrade Rules page validates your computer configuration before the edition upgrade operation begins.
- The Ready to Upgrade Edition page shows a tree view of installation options that were specified during Setup. To continue, click Upgrade.
- During the edition upgrade process, the services need to be restarted to pick up the new setting. After edition upgrade, the Complete page provides a link to the summary log file for the edition upgrade. To close the wizard, click Close.
- After installation, the Complete page provides a link to the summary log file for the installation and other important notes. To complete the SQL Server installation process, click Close.
- If you are instructed to restart the computer, do so now. It is important to read the message from the Installation Wizard when you are done with Setup. For information about Setup log files, see How to: View and Read SQL Server Setup Log Files.
You can also perform the upgrade using command line option, see below SQL BOL topic.
Command Line option
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144259.aspx#Upgrade
Hope this can help save time in upgrading to retail editions of SQL Server from the evaluation edition.
Note: The Evaluation edition of SQL Server is based on the Enterprise Edition and thus it is recommended to upgrade to SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition so you can continue to enjoy the many capabilities such as Resource Governor, Database compression, Backup compression, Transparent Database encryption, etc.
Comments
Anonymous
March 21, 2011
Thanks! Do you know how to find out what happens after entering a PID? Will we experience downtime? For how long? Do you know where to buy such a PID. We have 8 days left of our evaluation and really need to sort this out now. Thx. Reply to msntommy at live dot seAnonymous
January 07, 2012
tI am bit confused.We have applications running on sharepoint and sql is of standard edition. CAn we upgrade to sql enterprise edition.Will it cause any effects to the applications. Please clarify. Regards SubhaAnonymous
April 11, 2012
okay thank you very much http://www.itkomp.comAnonymous
April 12, 2012
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May 25, 2012
I have run all the steps as listed and the edition upgrade rules page tells me I can't "upgrade" my system. I have passed the evaluation stage. I have a license for standard. I enter that license and it tells me it can't do the upgrade but it is available for downgrade. I have read an awful lot of stuff about trying to get rid of R2.Anonymous
June 04, 2014
The comment has been removedAnonymous
July 28, 2014
Hi Karthik,
Did you maybe solve that problem? I have the same.Anonymous
July 28, 2014
The comment has been removedAnonymous
February 22, 2015
Thanks Buddy. It helpep..:)Anonymous
December 25, 2015
The comment has been removed