The end of extended support for SQL Server 2005 is one major reason to upgrade now to SQL Server 2017.

Upgrading to SQL Server 2017 from a lower version like SQL 2005 offers numerous benefits and some of them include:

• It enables you to maintain security and compliance. Microsoft stopped releasing security updates for any version of SQL Server 2005 on April 12, 2016.
• Some third-party vendors may require you to upgrade to a current or latest version of the SQL Server.
• You can also achieve breakthrough performance, including optimization of your data platform infrastructure.

For scalability purposes.

NOTE – It is not possible to upgrade a SQL Server 2005 instance to a SQL Server 2017 server in place. To make this happen, you have to install an instance of SQL Server 2017. When this is done, you can now be able to migrate your SQL Server 2005 databases to the new installation.

Below are the following steps on how to upgrade SQL server 2005 to 2017:

STEP 1

Download the ISO of SQL Server 2017 (Developer edition or the Express edition).

STEP 2

Mount the SQL Server 2017 ISO file or media on your current SQL 2005 server. To do this, right click on the file and select the Mount option.

STEP 3

After it has been mounted, go to the mounted drive and double-click on setup.exe. It will enable the SQL Server Installation Center to be opened.

STEP 4

Click on “Installation” at the left-hand side of the panel. A list of options will appear at the right-hand side of the panel.

STEP 5

From the options available, simply click on “Upgrade from a previous version of SQL Server”.

STEP 6

Immediately, a screen labeled “Upgrade” to SQL Server 2017” will be opened. Select the appropriate options while you navigate through the entire upgrade process. You can either choose Evaluation mode or specify your product key.

STEP 7

Accept the license terms and click on Next.

STEP 8

On the Microsoft updates screen, you can also allow Microsoft to pull updates for SQL.

STEP 9

On the Product Update screen, “Include SQL Server product updates” will be there by default.

STEP 10

Make sure the correct instance to be upgraded is selected In the “Select Instance” screen. You can choose a specific instance, or choose to only upgrade shared components in the drop-down box. You can then proceed to the next step.

STEP 11

In the “Instance Configuration screen” specify the instance ID of the SQL Server.

STEP 12

In the “Server Configuration” page, specify both the collation configuration and service accounts.

STEP 13

Choose the “Rebuild” full-text catalogs using the new and enhanced word breakers and click on Next.

STEP 14

When you’re finally taken to the “Ready to Upgrade” screen that displays our configuration choices, click on “Upgrade”.

The upgrade process may take between 5-7 minutes depending on the speed of your computer. After the upgrade is completed, you will be required to reboot or restart the computer in order to finish out the process.

You will be notified when the upgrade is successfully completed.

CONCLUSION

When you upgrade SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2017, the previous version of SQL Server (2005) will be overwritten and will no longer be available on your computer.