How to identify your SQL Server version and edition

Show expandable text

Using the System Information portlet

When you open Accounting CS, Workpapers CS, or Practice CS, you can use the System Information portlet to find the SQL version that is used by the application.

The System Information portlet is not available in FileCabinet CS.

  1. Open Accounting CS, Practice CS, or Workpapers CS.
  2. Choose View > Home Dashboard. 
  3. If the System Information portlet is not currently available on any tabs in the dashboard, click the Add View link in the upper-right corner of the Home Dashboard. 
  4. In the Description field, enter System Information, and then click OK to open the blank System Information tab.
  5. Click the Select Portlets link in the upper-right corner of the Home Dashboard to open the Select Portlets dialog.
  6. Mark the System Information checkbox and click OK to view the system information in the portlet. (The version of SQL that the application is using is displayed in the SQL version row.)

    Note: The following table lists some SQL build numbers and their corresponding versions.

    Build number SQL version
    11.xx SQL 2012
    12.xx SQL 2014
    13.xx SQL 2016
    14.xx SQL 2017
    15.xx SQL 2019

After July 12, 2022, Microsoft will no longer support SQL Server 2012 or earlier.

Using the SQL Server Installation Center

Use the following steps to view all installed instances of SQL and related information.

  1. At the SQL Server, use the Start menu to search for and launch the SQL Server Installation Center.
  2. In the left pane of the SQL Server Installation Center window, choose Tools.
  3. In the right pane, choose Installed SQL Server features discovery report.
  4. The report opens in your default web browser. You can use this report to determine your SQL Server instance name, version, edition, and more information.
  5. Use this Microsoft help article and the number in the Version column on the report to determine if your instance is the most current version.

Using the Windows Command Prompt

Use the following steps from the command prompt to determine what version of SQL you are running.

  1. On the workstation that SQL is installed, choose Start > Run, and enter cmd in the Open field, and then press Enter to launch a command prompt window.

  2. At the cmd prompt, enter SQLCMD -S servername\instancename (where servername = the name of your server, and instancename is the name of the SQL instance). The cmd prompt will change to 1>
  3. Type select @@version and press Enter.
  4. At the 2> cmd prompt, enter go, and then press Enter.

The SQL version that is running on your workstation is displayed. If you have multiple instances, you can repeat the process for each instance.

The <servername> in the previous section is the name of the workstation to which the SQL instance is installed. Use the following steps if you are unsure the name of your SQL instance.

  1. Open a command prompt window as described above.
  2. Type services.msc.
  3. Scroll to the entries beginning with SQL, and look for an entry, or multiple entries for each instance called SQL Server (<instancename>). The label in parentheses is the SQL instance name.

For more details on SQL Server version, see the Microsoft topic here External link . (What's this?)

This icon appears alongside links to resources that are not developed or maintained by Thomson Reuters. We provide access to these resources for your convenience, but we are not responsible for their accuracy. If you need additional assistance, please consult your qualified technician and/or the vendor who developed the resource.

Note: If FileCabinet CS is reporting that you are using SQL Express, but you believe that the instance is using a full version of SQL, you can open the instance in SQL Management Studio, and enter the following query to determine what edition is being reported by SQL: sqlcmd -Sservername -q"select SERVERPROPERTY('edition')".

Was this article helpful?

Thank you for the feedback!