How to identify the build and edition of SQL 2005?

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If you want to know the edition and build versions of SQL Server 2005 programmatically, you can use the following commands:

- SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('productversion'), SERVERPROPERTY ('productlevel'), SERVERPROPERTY ('edition') OR

- SELECT @@VERSION

You can also use these commands against SQL 2000 and SQL 7.0.

For more information on these commands and the different build numbers of SQL 2005, 2000 and 7.0, refer to this KB:

https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q321185

These commands are very well documented in Books Online. However, through this blog, I wanted to tell you other ways of finding the build and edition of SQL Server 2005 without using the above commands.

OTHER WAYS

a) From the file system by reading the EULA

Browse to %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\90\EULA\ for x86 or to %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft SQL Server\90\EULA\ for 64 bit.

Here, you will see many text files, which are nothing but the EULA (End User License Agreement) for SQL 2005.

The naming convention of these files will tell you the edition (ENT- Enterprise; STD – Standard; DEV – Developer; WKGP – Workgroup; EXPR – Express; UA – Upgrade Advisor) and the language (ENU – English; JPN – Japanese; KOR – Korean etc.)

However, through this method, you cannot find the build version of SQL 2005.

b) From Configuration Manager

Launch SQL Server 2005 Configuration Manager from Microsoft SQL Server 2005 à Configuration Tools menu.

Click on SQL Server 2005 Services and the right pane will be refreshed with all the services installed as part of your SQL Server installation.

Right click on the SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) for default instance or SQL Server (instancename) for named instances and go to Properties. Click on Advanced Tab.

Look for Version (for SQL 2005 RTM, this should read 9.00.1399.06) and Stock Keeping Unit Name (this is the edition of SQL 2005 - Standard or Enterprise etc.) to find the build and edition of SQL 2005 respectively.

c) From SQL Server Errorlogs and SQLAgent Logs

Open up SQL Server Errorlog from %Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\LOG (for default installation; if you changed this for your server, then located this folder from that directory).

The first few lines would read like the following:

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - 9.00.1399.06 (Intel X86)

            Oct 14 2005 00:33:37

            Copyright (c) 1988-2005 Microsoft Corporation

            Enterprise Edition on Windows NT 5.2 (Build 3790: Service Pack 1)

9.00.1399.06 is the RTM version of SQL 2005. Enterprise Edition is the edition of SQL 2005 (and NOT Windows). Windows NT 5.2 refers to Windows Server 2003. Service Pack 1 is for Windows (and NOT SQL 2005).

Similarly, open up SQLAgent.out file located in the same directory and the first line would read like:

Microsoft SQLServerAgent version 9.00.1399.06 (x86 unicode retail build) : Process ID 1148

You can read the build version from here but not the edition.

d) From Management Studio – Find everything at one place

Go to Help à About and it will launch a window with the versions of all the tools. You can even find the version of MDAC installed on your machine.

In Object Explorer, right click on your SQL Server name and go to Properties. Here you can find every detail about your server in one place – memory, processor, version, language and edition of SQL, OS, Server collation etc.