SQL Server file names vs versions

Question

I am lucky to be an admin of a server, but I have no idea how many versions of sql server on this server. When I opened the file Microsoft SQL Server, there are files called 80, 90, 100, 110. And I have only found SQL Server 2012 setup, so what's the relationship between the files names like 80, 90, 100, 110 with sql server versions like 2008, 2012?

Answer 1

The mapping is (along with links to build lists):

Major Version / Compatibility Level	Version Label	File Version
80	SQL Server 2000	8.00.xxxx
90	SQL Server 2005	9.00.xxxx
100	SQL Server 2008	10.00.xxxx
105	SQL Server 2008 R2	10.50.xxxx
110	SQL Server 2012	11.00.xxxx
120	SQL Server 2014	12.00.xxxx
130	SQL Server 2016	13.00.xxxx
140	SQL Server 2017	14.00.xxxx
150	SQL Server 2019	15.00.xxxx
160	SQL Server 2022	16.00.xxxx

However, just because you have a folder with one of these identifiers, does not mean you have a SQL Server instance of that version installed; some folders are laid down by newer versions for backward compatibility reasons, added by Visual Studio and other tools, or are left behind after an instance has been removed or upgraded.

To see what you actually have installed:

• Go to your start menu, and go to the highest version of "Microsoft SQL Server 20xx" that you have.
• Under that menu, go to Configuration Tools > SQL Server Configuration Manager.
• In the SQL Server Services tab, sort the data by Service Type, and for each line item with the type "SQL Server" (not blank, or "SQL Agent", or any other), right-click the SQL Server portion and select Properties.
• On the Advanced tab, scroll down, there will be a field called "Version", and the number there will map to one of the patterns in the 3rd column above.