Getting the latest SQL Server Native Client

If you are installing a Service Pack (SP) or Cumulative Update (CU) for SQL Server, you may notice that the SQL Server Native Client doesn’t get updated.  It may also be difficult to find the item to actually get it updated.

If you go look at the Feature Packs for the Service Packs, or go look at the Cumulative Update downloads, the sqlncli.msi package may not be listed there.  So, how do you get it?

Get it from the SP or CU Package

When you go to run the SP or CU Package, it will self extract to a GUID folder.  When it is done self extracting, you will see the SQL Setup landing page.  I actually want to ignore the Setup landing page for this.  But while that is there, we can go into Explorer and browse to the GUID folder.

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From there, you will want to go to the region folder that matches your region.  For me, it will be the 1033 folder.

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From there, we can go to \x64\setup\x64 and you should see the sqlnsli.msi there.  If you are 32bit, it will be an x86 folder.

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From there, you can copy the MSI out to where ever you need to run it at.

If you are looking for the 32bit SQL Server Native Client, but are running on a x64 machine, use the x64 MSI.  It will lay down both the 32bit and 64bit Driver/Provider.

 

Adam W. Saxton | Microsoft Business Intelligence Support - Escalation Services
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