How to Check SQL Server Version? Identify SQL MDF Edition

Knowing the exact version and edition of an installed & running SQL Server is sometimes crucial for the users. It helps when users want to transfer the data to another server or device. Learning how to check SQL Server version also helps in understanding the hardware & software compatibility along with new features of the dedicated SQL server version. However, users often face challenges & difficulties in getting the desired results.

Therefore, this guide is going to help and identify SQL Server versions using various methods like CMD, SSMS, Query & the most recommended advanced solution. All the troubleshooting methods discussed here will eventually help users without reducing the performance of the server.

How to Check SQL Server Version in CMD Windows?

If users do not want to use the SQL Server configuration manager, management studio, or installation center,  they use the Windows CMD. However, this method is quite technical. Thus, fixing the problem can result in optimized operations like migration, restoration, backup, and even maintenance for the server.

Note: Users must have admin credentials to the Windows machine on which the SQL Server instance has an established connection.

Step-1. Press Windows + R to launch the command line prompt or terminal.

Step-2. Now Locate the Bin Directory of the SQL database server installation using the cd command as mentioned below for Windows:

cd "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL16.SQLSERVER\SQLEXPRESS\bin"

Step-3. Now, just Run the Following Command after replacing the instance name with yours.

sqlcmd -S instance_name -Q "SELECT @@VERSION;"

That’s it. After this, the results will be displayed in the command prompt results.

Check SQL Server Version in SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio)

Now it’s time to explain the solution to users having access to SQL Server Management Studio & an entire SQL environment including SQL configuration manager. SSMS is indeed a powerful tool and an integral part of SQL database management system (DBMS) to execute operations. Below are the steps to detect the version of SQL Server using query on SSMS:

Step-1.  Launch the SSMS > Right Click on Server > Go to Object Explorer

Step-2. Click Connect & Enter the Server Name & Credentials.

Step-3. Click the Connect button to connect with the instance.

Step-4. Right-click on the Database > Click New Query option.

Step-5. Enter the command: SELECT @@VERSION; to check SQL Server version usig query.

After this Write GO & run the command to get the exact information about the SQL Server version & edition will be displayed. This SQL Server version query method is so far the ideal one for the manual method. If users do not have SSMS, they can troubleshoot the problem using the automated solution.

Best Way to Identify SQL Server Version without SSMS or CMD

To avoid all the hassles & get a free command free method, users can opt for SysTools SQL MDF Viewer Tool to check SQL version. For this method, users just need the MDF files in the system.

Step-1. Download the Toolkit & Click on the Open button to add MDF files.

Step-2. Select Quick/Advance Scan method to Scan clean or corrupted data.

Step-3. The software will Start Scanning the Files & users can see the progress.

Step-4. Here, Users can see the SQL Server version clearly under database version.

Note: This advanced utility is totally free but for additional features lik export data, users need to get the PRO version licence. 

The best thing about this tool is that it allow users to open MDF file without having the SQL server enviornment.

HotFix to Understand SQL Server Editions in Depth

As we are aware of the SQL Server versions & the methods to check them, it’s time for the editions. SQL Server always offers various editions for different users with different purposes. These editions are somehow different in terms of their patch updates, security features, pricing, etc. SQL Server relational database has versions like 2000, 2005, 2008/2008 R2, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2022. It offers the following editions:

SQL Server Express Edition: 

• Explanation: This edition of the SQL server database is free & mostly for students, freelancers, beginners, testers, etc. The basic task for this is to provide an experience of how SQL Server works & get hands-on experience.
• Features: Offers limited features in comparison to the other editions & versions of SQL Server. It’s easy to start & stop the operations here as its quite basic.
• Limitations: The threshold for the data size is limited & does not offer to manage very large-sized databases.

SQL Server Web Edition: 

• Explanation: The web edition is customized for hosting web applications and services for businesses.
• Features: Contains all the features of the Express edition along with some additional ones as per hoisting requirements.
• Limitations: Only optimized to the web application hosting domain. The features are dedicated to the installed web apps & the database engine is designed for that. 

SQL Server Standard Edition: 

• Explanation: Med-scale organizations with decent medium-sized master database requirements opt for this one. It’s for the general workload.
• Features: More features than the express and web editions & less than the advanced developer & enterprise editions.
• Limitations: Limited capabilities as per the level & user base.

SQL Server Enterprise Edition: 

• Explanation: It’s quite a high-powered edition tailored for large-scale, mission-critical workloads. Mostly used by experienced DBAs.
• Features: Always On availability groups, in-memory OLTP, parallel data warehousing, etc are its major highlights.
• Limitations: Require core technical knowledge of SQL database & its commands.

SQL Server Developer Edition: 

• Explanation: Quite fast in fixing SQL Server errors and the major focus here is to use the database for development and testing.
• Features: Apart from the production-based optimization, this server edition offers similar features as of the enterprise edition.
• Limitations: Only for development & testing purposes. There is no role of this in performance tuning.

SQL Server Azure Edition: 

• Explanation: This is quite different from all others as it’s a cloud-based edition hosted on Microsoft Azure.
• Features: Here, users can get various features as per their needs & performance tiers.
• Limitations: Quite costly

Tips and Challenges to Detect SQL Version

Now, that we are aware of all the methods for status check of the SQL instance, there are a few tips that will surely help users in the entire process.

Challenges of the Entire Operation: The major challenge that users face is the complex manual commands. Thus, we recommend the manual CMD and SSMS solutions to only users having proficient SQL knowledge.

Limitations of the Above Methods: The major limitations is the manual solutions and time time-consuming issues. Even for a few tasks, manual solutions took quite a long time to display results.

Additional Considerations & Advice: 

• As per experts & Microsoft MVPs, the automated solution can easily provide the desired results to the users.
• Make sure to keep the database in single-user mode while executing any manual command.
• Cross-verify that the SQL Server does not have any errors to avoid data corruption later during the operation to check the SQL Server version.
• Always keep the SQL Server configuration manager settings optimized & updated to not face any administrative SQL error.

The Final Say

Finally, after learning how to check SQL Server version in a few steps using various methods like automated, CMD, and SSMS queries, users will surely get the desired results. By following the steps & not violating any restrictions, there will be no error encounters to fix later. It’s always been easy to detect or identify SQL Server version but only if the users are aware of the right tool and technique.

FAQs

Q-1. What version of SQL Server are there?

Ans: The SQL Server has various versions among which the top four are:

• 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
• 15.0 for SQL Server 2019
• 16.0 for SQL Server 2022

Q-2. How to check SQL Server version in MySQL?

Ans: Well, MySQL is quite different the MS SQL Server. The process to check MySQL version is:

1. Open MySQL Workbench
2. Log in to the Server
3. Go to Management
4. Go to Server Status
5. Get Version Details.

Q-3. Can we Check SQL Server version with free version of the SysTools solution?

Ans: Yes, the demo version of the automated solution can provide users with the desired version detail.