Changing license keys for SQL 2005

Hello Gurus,

Although I've seen several posts describing this issue, there was no
clear answer as to if this is practical, so if you don't mind let me
ask it again.

We are currently undergoing a build phase of a SQL server 2005
standard database and we used the data center provider's SPLA licenses
to keep moving.

We will be getting our own standard version license key in a short
while and I would like to know if I can change the license keys
without reinstalling the software.

It is not in production yet so we may have a window to do a reinstall
if that is the only option but can this be done without harming the
database?


Thanks

( ) writes:
> We will be getting our own standard version license key in a short
> while and I would like to know if I can change the license keys
> without reinstalling the software.

No idea. I try to stay away from licensing issues as long as I can.
From a technical standpoint, there is no need to reinstall though, as
long as the edition is the same.

> It is not in production yet so we may have a window to do a reinstall
> if that is the only option but can this be done without harming the
> database?

Yes. You can backup the master and msdb databases before you uninstall, and
then restore then when you have reinstalled. Once you have restored master,
you should find the other databases intact. But it's a good idea to back
up the individual databases as well.

See also http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;224071.



--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel DeleteThis @sommarskog.se

Links for SQL Server Books Online:
SQL 2008: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/cc514207.aspx
SQL 2005: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/bb895970.aspx
SQL 2000: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/previousversions/books.mspx