How to upgrade to SQL Server 2000 Retail Version after SQL Server 2000 Evaluation Edition expires

When the 120-day evaluation period expires for your Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Evaluation Edition, SQL Server does not start. You may receive the following error in the Windows Event Viewer application log: This article describes how to upgrade from an expired SQL Server 2000 Evaluation Edition to SQL Server 2000 Retail Version. You can upgrade from SQL Server Enterprise Evaluation Edition to SQL Server Personal, Standard, or Enterprise Edition.

Note

SQL Server 2000 Personal Edition can run on the following operating systems:
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
• Windows NT Workstation 4.0
• Windows Millennium Edition
• Windows 98

SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition and Standard Edition can run on the following operating systems:
• Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition1
• Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition1
• Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition1
• Windows 2000 Server
• Windows 2000 Advanced Server
• Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
• Windows NT Server version 4.0 with Service Pack 5 (SP5) or later
• Windows NT Server 4.0, Enterprise Edition, with SP5 or later


• You can use the same steps to upgrade your SQL Server 2000 Evalutation Edition before it expires.
• This procedure does not work for clustered installations.

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

After the SQL Server 2000 Evaluation Edition expires, you can use retail installation to upgrade the expired SQL Server instance to SQL Server 2000 Retail version. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Run the installation from the Retail Setup CD (for example, a valid Retail Version from the SQL Server 2000 Setup CD).
2. Select Upgrade, remove, or add components to an existing instance of SQL Server.
3. Choose the instance to upgrade.
4. Select the Upgrade your existing installation option.
5. Select the Yes, upgrade my programs box.
6. If you do not want to add any additional component, select No in the Do you want to install additional components? dialog box. If you would like to add more components, select Yes and check the boxes for the components you would like to add.
7. Click Finish.
8. Stop and restart SQL Server.

For related information on SQL Server 7.0, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
To upgrade a virtual SQL Server from an evaluation edition to a retail edition, you must back up the databases, uninstall the virtual server, reinstall the retail edition, and then restore the databases.