How do I download Microsoft SQL Server 2022?

1. Review SQL Server 2022 system requirements and release notes. (Hardware and software requirements for this release are the same as SQL Server 2019, except for .NET Framework 4.7.2.)
2. Register, then download and install full-featured software for a 180-day trial 
3. Receive emails with resources to guide you through your evaluation 

Installation Guidelines

Note: You must have administrative rights on the computer to install SQL Server 2022 .

After downloading and running the installer, you may perform an immediate Basic installation of the SQL Engine, a full Custom installation, or download the media only. If you select to download media only versus doing an installation, two media download formats are available to the folder of your choice:
 

SQL Server 2022 DVD (ISO) image 

You can use the ISO image to mount and/or burn your own DVD. 

1. Right click on SQLServer2022-x64-{loc}.iso and select Mount. 
   
2. Locate and execute setup.exe on the mounted device to begin the installation. 
   
3. Using your DVD-burning software, select the options to burn a DVD from an .ISO image. 
   
4. After burning the DVD, locate and double-click Setup.exe on the DVD to begin the installation. 

SQL Server 2022 CAB file 

The SQL Server installer will download the following compressed files: 

1. SQLServer2022-x64-{loc}.box 
   
2. SQLServer2022-x64-{loc}.exe

SQL Server Linux Container image 

For instructions on how to pull and run SQL Server in a Linux container, please go to:  

• Ubuntu Container: SQL Server Linux container image on Docker Hub
• RHEL Container: Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog

SQL Server on Linux Packages: 

For instructions on how to obtain and install SQL Server on Linux, please go to:

• Installation guidance for SQL Server 2022 (16.x) on Linux

Key notes about SQL Server 

• The Microsoft SQL Server release is NOT supported by Microsoft Customer Services and Support (CSS). 
• The Microsoft SQL Server release is available for testing purposes only and should NOT be installed and used in production environments. 

If you have questions or concerns that come up during your testing and evaluation, we encourage you to use the Azure Ideas forum for SQL Server to share your ideas, search for answers or ask new questions.

Once downloaded the installation wizard has 3 options:

• Basic - Install SQL Server with the default options
• Custom - This option allows you to select the components to install
• Download Media - This option allows you to download the installer and run the install later

For this article, we will use Custom.

Next, the installer will ask where to save the download. Once selected press Install.

This will download and run the install package.

The SQL Server Installation Center will open after the download completes and on the Installation page, we have the following install options:

1. New SQL Server stand-alone installation or add features to an existing installation
   • SQL Server Installation
2. Install SQL Server Reporting Services
   • Install Reporting Services
3. Install SQL Server Management Tools
   • Install SQL Server tools
4. Install SQL Server Data Tools
   • Install database projects. In the past, you could install Analysis Services, SSRS, and SSIS projects with SSDT, but starting with Visual Studio 2019, these projects are not included with SSDT.
5. New SQL Server failover cluster installation
   • Install a new node in a failover cluster used for high availability
6. Add node to a SQL Server failover cluster
   • Add nodes to a failover cluster
7. Upgrade from a previous version of SQL Server
   • Upgrade from a previous SQL Server version

We will pick "New SQL Server stand-alone installation or add features to an existing installation".

Activation

On the next screen, you can enter a product key or use a free edition. The free evaluation edition is good for 180 days, which is what we will use.

License Terms

Read the license terms to make sure that you agree and press Next.

Microsoft Update

The Microsoft Update can check if there are updates. You can enable this option and Microsoft Update will check for updates. Press Next to continue.

Install Rules

The install rules window verifies possible problems during the installation. For example, the machine may not have the current .NET framework installed, or the firewall may need some ports enabled. In this example, we have two warnings. The firewall and the side-by-side upgrade warnings. You can click view detailed report for more details or on the warning link to get more info. Note, it is not recommended to install the machine on a domain controller and the .NET framework that is recommended is 4.7.2 or later.

Windows Firewall Warning

If the firewall is enabled, you need to check if the required ports are enabled. If they are disabled, your services may not work. If you need more information about SQL Ports, please refer to this link: SQL Server Ports for Various Components. If you need more information to configure the firewall, please refer to this link: Configure Windows Firewall to Work with SQL Server.

Side By Side Support Warning

The side-by-side support indicates that this upgrade is not supported for this version of SQL Server.

Feature Selection

The feature selection includes several options as shown below.

• Database Engine Services
  • Main component of SQL Server
• SQL Server Replication
  • Replicate data to different databases or SQL Servers. For more information, please refer to this replication article.
• Machine Learning Services and Languages Extension
  • Run R and Python in your SQL Server database
• Full Text and Semantics
  • Search large sets of text in the database. This is a powerful search service that can improve performance when searching text data.
• Data Quality Services
  • Fix, enrich, standardize and check your data.
• PolyBase Query Service
  • Integrate Big Data Hadoop solutions with SQL Server
• Analysis Services
  • Service for SQL Server OLAP solutions
• Data Quality Client
  • Manage and handle data quality
• Integration Services
  • Import and export data with custom workflows. You can use the Scale Out Master or the Scale Out Worker. These configurations are related to the package execution work process and optimize the execution.
• SQL Client Connectivity SDK
  • Additional tools for connectivity to SQL Server
• Master Data Services
  • Centralize and manage similar data across your databases
• SQL Server Extension for Azure
  • Additional extensions that can be used for Azure

Instance Configuration

In the instance configuration, we enter a name to be used for the SQL Server instance. In this example, I am creating a new database engine with the instance name of instance2022, because I already have a default SQL Server instance.

Server Configuration

The server configuration allows creating or adding service accounts for the different services used by SQL Server. You can use the defaults or create new accounts with custom security and passwords to run the services.

Database Engine Configuration

The database engine configuration allows you to configure several parts of the installation.

• Server Configuration
  • Select the type of SQL Server authentication mode to connect the instance, either mixed mode or Windows authentication. You can also add accounts that should have complete access to SQL Server.
• Data Directories
  • Define the location of the data directories.
• TempDB
  • Setup your TempDB configuration here.
• MaxDOP
  • MaxDOP is important to have a good performance. For more information, please check out this MAXDOP settings article.
• Memory
  • The memory settings let you specify the maximum server memory used by SQL Server. For more information about setting the max value, please refer to setting a fixed amount of memory for the SQL Server article.
• Filestream
  • FILESTREAM is used to store files outside of the database like videos, PDFs, Word files, Excel files, and others.

Ready to Install

Once everything is configured, you can check the configuration and press the Install button to continue.

Complete

If everything is successful, MS SQL Server 2022 will be installed, and the relational database management system is ready for use.

Next Steps

The next step is to connect to SQL Server and begin working on SQL database development and administration. To do that, you should download Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).  Check out these resources to get started:

• Download SQL Server Management Studio
• Using SSMS to Connect to SQL Server Database Engine

Here are some other SQL Server 2022 articles:

• Get Ready for SQL Server 2022
• My Favorite T-SQL Enhancements in SQL Server 2022

Related Articles

Popular Articles

About the author

View all my tips

Article Last Updated: 2022-07-12

How to download and install SQL Server 2022?

Is SQL Server 2022 available?

How to connect SQL Server 2022?

Can I install Microsoft SQL Server?