Add a SQL Server license to an existing Windows server

Windows

Compute Engine lets you install SQL Server on Windows instances and usepay-as-you-go (PAYG) licenses. This document describes how you can perform thefollowing:

  1. Add SQL Server license metadata to a boot disk
  2. Obtain SQL Server media and install SQL Server
  3. Apply a SQL server product key to a Compute Engine instance

Billing

After adding a license string to the Windows instance's boot disk, you arebilled according to the pricing ofSQL Server images.

Limitations

  • You can only add PAYG licenses for the following editions of SQL Server:

    • SQL Server Web edition
    • SQL Server Standard edition
    • SQL Server Enterprise edition

Add a SQL Server license

SQL Server license metadata on a boot disk allows Google Cloud to accuratelytrack, bill, and report on SQL Server license usage. This metadata is requiredwhen using PAYG SQL Server licenses. Add a SQL Server license to an existing bootdisk using the following procedure:

Caution: After you add a license to an instance, you cannot remove the licensefrom the instance.

  1. Identify the license you want to add to an instance. For SQL Server, thelicense needs to match both the version and edition you want to run. For thelist of valid SQL Server license strings, see theLicense strings tab intheoperating system details for SQL Serverdocument.

  2. Stop the instance:

    gcloud compute instances stopVM_NAME

    ReplaceVM_NAME with the name of the instance tostop.

  3. Identify the boot disk:

    gcloud compute instances describeVM_NAME

    ReplaceVM_NAME with the name of the instance.

  4. Verify that the output is similar to the following:

    disks:- autoDelete: true  boot: true  deviceName:BOOT_DISK_NAME  diskSizeGb: '20'  guestOsFeatures:  - type: UEFI_COMPATIBLE  index: 0  interface: SCSI  kind: compute#attachedDisk  licenses:  -BOOT_DISK_LICENSE_STRING  mode: READ_WRITE  source: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_NAME/zones/ZONE/disks/BOOT_DISK_NAME  type: PERSISTENT

  5. Detach the boot disk:

    gcloud compute instances detach-diskVM_NAME --disk=BOOT_DISK_NAME

    Replace the following:

    • VM_NAME: the name of the instance
    • BOOT_DISK_NAME: the name of the boot disk

  6. Clone the boot disk and add the additional license:

    gcloud compute disks createCLONED_BOOT_DISK_NAME \  --licenses=SQL_SERVER_LICENSE \  --source-disk=BOOT_DISK_NAME \  --source-disk-zone=BOOT_DISK_ZONE \  --zone=CLONED_BOOT_DISK_ZONE

    Replace the following:

    • CLONED_BOOT_DISK_NAME: the name you want togive the cloned book disk
    • SQL_SERVER_LICENSE: the SQL Server license youwant to add to the boot disk. For information on SQL Server licenses, seethe License tab in sectionSQL Server on Windows
    • BOOT_DISK_NAME: the name of the source bootdisk that you want to clone
    • BOOT_DISK_ZONE: the zone of the source bootdisk
    • CLONED_BOOT_DISK_ZONE: the zone in which youwant to create the cloned boot disk

  7. Verify that the new disk has the correct license:

    gcloud compute disks describeCLONED_BOOT_DISK_NAME \  --zone=CLONED_BOOT_DISK_ZONE

    Replace the following:

    • CLONED_BOOT_DISK_NAME: the name of the clonedbook disk
    • CLONED_BOOT_DISK_ZONE: the zone of the clonedboot disk

  8. Attach the new disk as the boot disk for the instance:

    gcloud compute instances attach-diskVM_NAME \  --disk=CLONED_BOOT_DISK_NAME  --boot

    Replace the following:

    • VM_NAME: the name of the instance to which youwant to attach the cloned boot disk
    • CLONED_BOOT_DISK_NAME: the name of the clonedbook disk

  9. Verify that the instance's boot disk is the new cloned disk with SQL Serverlicensing.

    gcloud compute instances describeVM_NAME

    ReplaceVM_NAME with the name of the instance.

  10. Start the instance.

    gcloud compute instances startVM_NAME

    ReplaceVM_NAME with the name of the instance.

  11. (Optional) When you are sure that you don't want to revert back to the earlierboot disk, you can delete the disk.

    gcloud compute disks deleteBOOT_DISK_NAME \  --zone=BOOT_DISK_ZONE

    Replace the following:

    • BOOT_DISK_NAME: the name of the boot disk thatyou want to delete
    • BOOT_DISK_ZONE: the zone of the boot disk

Obtain the SQL Server media and install SQL Server

To obtain the SQL Server installation media and copy it to a Compute Engineinstance boot disk, do the following:

  1. Create a new disk containing the SQL Server installation media using anyversion of SQL server (for example, 2019 Enterprise):

    gcloud compute disks createSQL_SERVER_MEDIA_DISK_NAME \  --image-family=sql-ent-2019-win-2022 \  --image-project=windows-sql-cloud \  --zone=SQL_SERVER_ZONE

    Replace the following:

    • SQL_SERVER_MEDIA_DISK_NAME: the name of the SQLServer media disk that you want to create
    • SQL_SERVER_ZONE: the zone in which youwant to create the SQL Server media disk

  2. Attach the disk to any existing Compute Engine instance:

    gcloud compute instances attach-diskVM_INSTANCE_NAME \  --disk=SQL_SERVER_MEDIA_DISK_NAME  --zone=SQL_SERVER_ZONE

    Replace the following:

    • VM_INSTANCE_NAME: the name of the instance towhich you want to attach the SQL Server media disk
    • SQL_SERVER_MEDIA_DISK_NAME: the name of the SQLServer media disk
    • SQL_SERVER_ZONE: the zone of the instance

    After the SQL Server media disk is attached to a instance, on your Windowsmachine, open theDisk Management page to see if the disk has a driveletter assigned to it. If not, right-click on the disk and selectOnlineto bring it online. The SQL Server media disk is now theD: drive on theDisk Management page and in Windows Explorer.

  3. Ensure the boot disk of your instance has at least 5 GB of free disk spaceand copy the SQL Server media to your boot disk:

    robocopy /mir d:\sql_server_install\ c:\sql_server_install

  4. Detach the SQL Server media disk from the instance:

    gcloud compute instances detach-diskVM_INSTANCE_NAME \  --disk=SQL_SERVER_MEDIA_DISK_NAME

    Replace the following:

    • VM_INSTANCE_NAME: the name of the instance youfrom which you want to detach the SQL Server media disk
    • SQL_SERVER_MEDIA_DISK_NAME: the name of the SQLServer media disk that you want to detach from the instance

For more information, seeMicrosoft SQL Server installation guide.

Apply a SQL server product key to a Compute Engine instance

In order to upgrade the SQL Server installation media, you must obtain and applya product key to the Compute Engine instance on which the SQL Server isinstalled. To obtain the product key and upgrade the SQL Server installationmedia, do the following:

  1. Obtain the product key from the SQL Server installation media:

    C:\> type C:\sql_server_install\x64\DefaultSetup.ini

  2. Connect to the instance on which the SQL Server is installedusing Remote Desktop and sign in using your domain user.

  3. Right-click theStart button (or pressWin+X) and selectRun.

  4. Confirm the elevation prompt by clickingYes.

  5. Start the SQL Server setup:

    & c:\sql_server_install\setup.exe

What's next

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Last updated 2025-07-09 UTC.