What SQL Server components are installed on this machine?
2September 14, 2015 by Kenneth Fisher
Figuring out what components of SQL Server are installed on a particular machine has always been a task that has aggravated me. Telling what services have been installed is pretty easy, discovering if the backwards compatibility components were installed, for example, is a bit more difficult. Well recently I found a great method. I’m sure there are better ways to do it as this particular one has two major flaws. You have to be logged into the machine in question and it only works on one machine at a time. Not good if you are dealing with a large enterprise and have to review everything at once. Fortunately most of the time I have to perform this particular task I’m only dealing with one machine. I still don’t like the restriction that I have to remote to the box but I haven’t found a way around it yet. If you know a better way feel free to mention it in the comments.
In the mean time if you look in your Microsoft SQL Server 20xx folders you will see the SQL Server 20xx Installation Center. Open that and go to the tools tab. The second option is the Installed SQL Server features discovery report.
And when you run it you get this handy dandy little report.
Nice, but what is the minimum version of SQL Server that needs to be installed for the SQL Server 20xx Installation Center tool to be available? Unfortunately, here we don’t currently have anything above SQL Server 2005, and getting permission to upgrade is worse than pulling teeth!
Well I know it’s there for 2008 R2 and I’m fairly sure it’s what you use to install even a SQL 2005 instance. Couldn’t say past that.