How to uninstall Microsoft SQL Server on Windows

In this guide, I will be discussing how to uninstall Microsoft SQL Server on Windows completely and prepare the system so that you can reinstall SQL Server. Please refer to the following article on how to uninstall Oracle Database 11G or 12c. See this guide on how to download and install Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Express edition and Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio on Windows 10 and Windows Server, how to install MsSQL on Linux.

There are two ways to go about this, you can uninstall SQL Server from Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019 with the steps below.

Please see these exciting articles:How to install MSSQL Server 2019 Developer Edition and SQL Server, how to use Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio to Export and import MySQL database, and Unable to connect to MSSQL Server after changing the Server name.

Remove Microsoft SQL Server on Windows via Windows Settings

Method 1: To begin the removal process navigate to Settings from the Start menu and then choose Apps.

Search for sql in the search box, and select Microsoft SQL Server (Version) (Bit). For example, Microsoft SQL Server 2017 (64-bit). Select Uninstall.

Click on Remove on the SQL Server 2017 Windows as shown below

This will open the remove SQL Server 2017 Windows as shown below. Here the setup support rules will run and verify your computer configuration. Since there is only one instance of SQL server on this machine, the wizard selects it for you.

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Otherwise, you can use the drop-down menu to select your instance for removal. Click Next to continue.

After clicking on the NEXT button, you will get the Ready to Remove dialog box showing the summary of the Engine and features that are going to be removed.

Click on Remove and this will begin the removal process and i can take several minutes depending on your installation.

On the Ready to Remove page, review the list of components and features that will be uninstalled. Click Remove to begin uninstalling

This will continue the removal process as shown below

If it completes successfully, you will receive a success message. You can go to the hyperlinked text file to see the report of the whole process of removal.

Finally, click on close to complete the removal of the SQL Server instance.

You can verify that the server is completely uninstalled by performing the following below.

Refresh the Apps and Features window to verify the SQL Server instance has been removed successfully, and determine which, if any, SQL Server components still exist. Remove these components from this window as well, if you so choose.

You may also have to manually uninstall other additional components relating to SQL from your device as well. See the following article on how to uninstall Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.

Remove Microsoft SQL Server on Windows via the Control Panel

Method 2: To begin the uninstall process, navigate to Control Panel and then Programs and Features as shown below and select Microsoft SQL Server 2016 and select Uninstall.
– Then click Remove and this will starts the Removal of SQL Server 2016.

Click on Remove on the SQL Server 2017 Windows as shown below

See the following links for some MSSQL-related topics: How to use a dedicated MsSQL Db for Pleasant Password, how to migrate Veeam MsSQL Database to a new MsSQL Server, and how to reset MSSQL Server SA Password on Ubuntu via the command line and SQL Server Management Studio.

Summary

Therefore follow the steps above from where we stopped here to complete the uninstallation. Regardless of the method you use, you will be able to uninstall MsSQL from your server correctly.

To uninstall a SQL Server failover cluster, use the Remove Node functionality provided by SQL Server Setup to remove each node individually.

I hope you found this blog post helpful on how to uninstall Microsoft SQL Server on Windows.. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment session.