How To Manually Uninstall SQL Server

How to manually uninstall SQL Server.

Applies to: All editions of Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, Microsoft SQL Server 2012, Microsoft SQL Server 2014, Microsoft SQL Server 2016, Microsoft SQL Server 2017, Microsoft SQL Server 2019, Microsoft SQL Server 2022.

If you need to manually uninstall SQL Server 2005, please refer to the procedure explained on its on dedicated Web page.

If you are trying to uninstall SQL Server 2012 and you receive the error message "The operating system on the computer does not meet the minimum requirements for SQL Server 2012", please follow the steps outlined here:

1. Open File Explorer or Windows Explorer and go to the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Setup Bootstrap\SQLServer2012.
2. Make a right click on the Setup.exe file, select Properties, click on the Compatibility tab, click on the checkbox name "Run this program in compatibility mode for", from the combo box select "Windows Vista (Service Pack 2)"
3. Go to Control Panel, Select "Uninstall a program" and uninstall SQL Server 2012.

If you are not able to uninstall SQL Server please try the procedure explained here first.

If you have tried everything and you are still unable to uninstall SQL Server, please proceed to manually uninstall SQL Server using the following procedure:

1. Uninstall all SQL Server components you can using Control Panel -> Programs and Features 2. Backup the registry. In case a rollback is needed.

3. Open the Registry Editor. There are 2 ways to do that.

3.1 In the search box on the taskbar, type regedit, then select Registry Editor (Desktop app) from the results. 3.2 Right-click Start button, then select Run. Type regedit in the Open: box, and then select OK.4. Delete the following keys in regedit. Here you will find how to delete a key. --HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server --HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer5. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall and delete all the sub-keys referencing SQL Server.6. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services and delete all the keys referencing SQL Server.7. Rename all the SQL Server related folders in the computer like C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server and subfolders.

8. Finally, restart your computer.