Install SQL Server Developer on Windows Server 2025

SQL Server Developer Edition is a free, full-featured version of Microsoft SQL Server licensed for development and testing. It includes every feature available in the paid editions – you get the same engine, tools, and capabilities without spending a dime, as long as it stays off production workloads. For developers building applications, DBAs setting up test environments, or teams running CI/CD pipelines against a real SQL Server instance, Developer Edition is the right choice.

This guide walks through installing SQL Server 2025 Developer Edition on Windows Server 2025 from scratch. We cover the full setup – downloading the installer, configuring the instance, installing SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), enabling remote access, setting up backups, and verifying everything works. SQL Server 2025 is the latest release (version 17.x), with native vector search, regex support, JSON improvements, and better Always On availability groups.

Prerequisites

Before starting the installation, confirm your environment meets these requirements:

• Windows Server 2025 (Standard or Datacenter) – also works on Windows Server 2022 and 2019
• Minimum 4 GB RAM (8 GB or more recommended for development workloads)
• At least 6 GB of free disk space for the SQL Server installation, plus additional space for databases
• x64 processor at 1.4 GHz or faster
• .NET Framework 4.7.2 or later (included in Windows Server 2025)
• Administrator access to the server
• Internet access to download the installer and SSMS

SQL Server 2025 introduces two Developer Edition variants – Standard Developer and Enterprise Developer. Standard Developer matches Standard Edition features (32-core cap, 256 GB memory limit). Enterprise Developer gives you the full Enterprise feature set. For most development and testing scenarios, Enterprise Developer is the better pick since it removes all capacity limits.

Step 1: Download SQL Server 2025 Developer Edition

Microsoft provides a free download of SQL Server Developer Edition through their evaluation center. Open a browser on your Windows Server 2025 machine and navigate to the official download page.

Go to the SQL Server 2025 editions page to review edition differences, then download from the Microsoft evaluation center:

1. Open your browser and go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-downloads
2. Scroll down to the Developer section
3. Choose either Standard Developer or Enterprise Developer – for this guide, we use Enterprise Developer to get the full feature set
4. Click Download now to get the installer (SQL2025-SSEI-Dev.exe)

The downloaded file is a small bootstrapper (around 5 MB) that downloads the full installation media during setup. If you need an offline installer for servers without internet access, choose the Download Media option in the next step instead of running Setup directly.

Step 2: Run the SQL Server Installer

Double-click the downloaded SQL2025-SSEI-Dev.exe file to launch the SQL Server Installation Center. You get three installation options:

• Basic – installs with default settings. Quick but gives no control over features or paths
• Custom – downloads media and launches the full setup wizard. This is what we want
• Download Media – downloads an ISO, CAB, or EXE for offline installation

Select Custom to get full control over feature selection, instance configuration, and data directories. Choose a download location for the installation media (the default is fine) and click Install.

The bootstrapper downloads the full SQL Server media package. Once the download completes, the SQL Server Installation Center opens automatically. From here:

1. Click Installation in the left panel
2. Click New SQL Server stand-alone installation or add features to an existing installation
3. On the Edition screen, select Developer (it should be pre-selected since you downloaded the Developer installer)
4. Accept the license terms and click Next
5. On the Feature Selection screen, select at minimum: Database Engine Services. Optionally add Full-Text and Semantic Extractions for Search if your applications use full-text search
6. Click Next to proceed to instance configuration

Step 3: Configure Instance and Authentication

Instance configuration determines how SQL Server is identified on the machine and where it stores data. Getting this right at install time avoids headaches later.

Instance Configuration

You have two choices for the instance name:

• Default instance – connects using just the server name (e.g., YOURSERVER). Best when this is the only SQL Server instance on the machine
• Named instance – connects using YOURSERVER\INSTANCENAME. Use when running multiple SQL Server versions side by side

For a dedicated development server, use the Default instance. Click Next.

Server Configuration

On the Server Configuration tab, set the service accounts. The defaults work for development, but in production-like setups, use dedicated domain accounts or managed service accounts. Set the SQL Server Database Engine startup type to Automatic so it starts with Windows.

Switch to the Collation tab if you need a specific collation. The default SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS works for most English-language applications. Change this only if your application requires a different collation – this cannot be easily changed after installation.

Authentication Mode

On the Database Engine Configuration screen, choose the authentication mode:

• Windows Authentication Mode – uses Windows accounts only. More secure but limits access to domain/local accounts
• Mixed Mode (SQL Server and Windows Authentication) – allows both SQL logins and Windows accounts. Required if applications connect with SQL authentication (username/password)

Select Mixed Mode for development environments – it gives maximum flexibility for testing different authentication scenarios. Set a strong password for the sa (system administrator) account. Click Add Current User to add your Windows account as a SQL Server administrator.

Data Directories

Switch to the Data Directories tab. For development servers, the defaults are acceptable. For production-like testing, separate the data files, log files, and tempdb onto different drives to simulate real I/O patterns:

• Data root directory: D:\SQLData (or your dedicated data drive)
• User database directory: D:\SQLData
• User database log directory: E:\SQLLogs
• Temp DB directory: F:\SQLTempDB
• Backup directory: G:\SQLBackups

If you only have a single drive, leave the defaults. Click Next, review the summary, and click Install. The installation takes 10-20 minutes depending on your hardware. Once complete, you see a summary screen confirming all features installed successfully.

Step 4: Install SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is the primary GUI tool for managing SQL Server instances. It is not bundled with the SQL Server installer – you download it separately.

Download SSMS 22 from the official Microsoft download page. SSMS 22 is the latest version and works with SQL Server 2025 out of the box. It also includes GitHub Copilot integration for AI-assisted query writing.

1. Download the SSMS installer (vs_SSMS.exe) from the link above
2. Run the installer and click Install
3. The Visual Studio Installer downloads and installs SSMS components
4. Once installation completes, click Close

SSMS requires about 3 GB of disk space and may need a system restart after installation. You can also install SSMS on a separate workstation and connect to the SQL Server remotely – it does not need to be on the same machine as the database engine.

Step 5: Connect to SQL Server and Verify Installation

After installing both SQL Server and SSMS, verify that everything is running correctly.

Launch SSMS from the Start menu. In the Connect to Server dialog:

• Server type: Database Engine
• Server name: localhost (or . for the default instance)
• Authentication: Windows Authentication (or SQL Server Authentication with sa credentials)

Click Connect. Once connected, run this query to confirm the installed version:

SELECT @@VERSION;

The output confirms SQL Server 2025 Developer Edition is running on Windows Server 2025:

Microsoft SQL Server 2025 (RTM) - 17.0.1000.4 (X64)
    Nov 18 2025 ...
    Developer Edition (64-bit) on Windows Server 2025 ...

Check that the SQL Server service is running from PowerShell:

Get-Service -Name MSSQLSERVER

The service status should show Running:

Status   Name               DisplayName
------   ----               -----------
Running  MSSQLSERVER        SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER)

Also verify the SQL Server Agent is running – it handles scheduled jobs and alerts:

Get-Service -Name SQLSERVERAGENT

If the Agent is stopped, start it and set it to automatic:

Set-Service -Name SQLSERVERAGENT -StartupType Automatic
Start-Service -Name SQLSERVERAGENT

Step 6: Create a Test Database and Tables

With SQL Server running, create a test database to confirm everything works end-to-end. Open a New Query window in SSMS and run the following.

Create the database:

CREATE DATABASE TestDB;
GO

Switch to the new database and create a sample table:

USE TestDB;
GO

CREATE TABLE Employees (
    EmployeeID INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
    FirstName NVARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
    LastName NVARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
    Email NVARCHAR(100),
    Department NVARCHAR(50),
    HireDate DATE DEFAULT GETDATE()
);
GO

Insert some test data:

INSERT INTO Employees (FirstName, LastName, Email, Department)
VALUES
    ('John', 'Smith', '[email protected]', 'Engineering'),
    ('Sarah', 'Johnson', '[email protected]', 'DevOps'),
    ('Mike', 'Chen', '[email protected]', 'DBA');
GO

Query the table to verify the data:

SELECT * FROM Employees;

You should see all three rows returned with auto-generated IDs and hire dates:

EmployeeID  FirstName  LastName  Email                      Department   HireDate
----------  ---------  --------  -------------------------  -----------  ----------
1           John       Smith     [email protected]     Engineering  2026-03-22
2           Sarah      Johnson   [email protected]        DevOps       2026-03-22
3           Mike       Chen      [email protected]      DBA          2026-03-22

The database engine is working. Clean up the test database when done, or keep it for further experimentation.

Step 7: Configure Remote Access (TCP/IP)

By default, SQL Server only accepts connections from the local machine. To allow remote connections from other servers or developer workstations, you need to enable the TCP/IP protocol and configure the listening port.

Enable TCP/IP Protocol

Open SQL Server Configuration Manager from the Start menu. Navigate to SQL Server Network Configuration > Protocols for MSSQLSERVER (or your instance name).

1. Right-click TCP/IP and select Enable
2. Right-click TCP/IP again and select Properties
3. Switch to the IP Addresses tab
4. Scroll to the bottom – under IPAll, set TCP Port to 1433 and clear the TCP Dynamic Ports field
5. Click OK

You can also enable TCP/IP via PowerShell. Import the SQL Server module and run:

Import-Module SQLPS -DisableNameChecking
$smo = 'Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.'
$wmi = New-Object ($smo + 'Wmi.ManagedComputer')
$tcp = $wmi.ServerInstances['MSSQLSERVER'].ServerProtocols['Tcp']
$tcp.IsEnabled = $true
$tcp.Alter()
Write-Host "TCP/IP enabled. Restart SQL Server service to apply."

Restart SQL Server Service

After enabling TCP/IP, restart the SQL Server service for the changes to take effect:

Restart-Service -Name MSSQLSERVER -Force

Verify that SQL Server is now listening on port 1433:

netstat -an | findstr 1433

You should see SQL Server listening on port 1433 on all interfaces:

  TCP    0.0.0.0:1433           0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
  TCP    [::]:1433              [::]:0                 LISTENING

Step 8: Configure Windows Firewall for SQL Server

Windows Firewall blocks incoming connections to port 1433 by default. Add a rule to allow SQL Server traffic through. If you manage Windows Server firewall rules regularly, this follows the same pattern.

Open PowerShell as Administrator and create the firewall rule:

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "SQL Server 2025" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 1433 -Action Allow

If you use SQL Server Browser (for named instances), also open UDP port 1434:

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "SQL Server Browser" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 1434 -Action Allow

Verify the firewall rules were created:

Get-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "SQL Server*" | Format-Table DisplayName, Enabled, Direction, Action

Both rules should show as Enabled with Allow action:

DisplayName          Enabled Direction Action
-----------          ------- --------- ------
SQL Server 2025         True   Inbound  Allow
SQL Server Browser      True   Inbound  Allow

Test remote connectivity from another machine using sqlcmd or SSMS. Connect using the server’s IP address or hostname with port 1433.

Step 9: Configure SQL Server Backups

Every SQL Server installation needs a backup strategy from day one – even development environments. Losing a week of development work because nobody set up backups is preventable. If you work with SQL Server on Linux, the backup concepts are the same but the tooling differs slightly.

Full Database Backup

Run a full backup of the TestDB database to the default backup directory:

BACKUP DATABASE TestDB
TO DISK = N'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL17.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Backup\TestDB_Full.bak'
WITH INIT, COMPRESSION, STATS = 10;
GO

The COMPRESSION option reduces backup file size significantly. INIT overwrites any existing backup in that file. STATS = 10 shows progress every 10%.

Automated Backup with SQL Server Agent

Set up a scheduled backup job using T-SQL. This creates a daily full backup job that runs at 2:00 AM:

USE msdb;
GO

EXEC sp_add_job
    @job_name = N'Daily Full Backup - TestDB',
    @enabled = 1;
GO

EXEC sp_add_jobstep
    @job_name = N'Daily Full Backup - TestDB',
    @step_name = N'Backup TestDB',
    @subsystem = N'TSQL',
    @command = N'BACKUP DATABASE TestDB TO DISK = N''C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL17.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Backup\TestDB_Daily.bak'' WITH INIT, COMPRESSION;',
    @database_name = N'master';
GO

EXEC sp_add_schedule
    @schedule_name = N'Daily 2AM',
    @freq_type = 4,
    @freq_interval = 1,
    @active_start_time = 020000;
GO

EXEC sp_attach_schedule
    @job_name = N'Daily Full Backup - TestDB',
    @schedule_name = N'Daily 2AM';
GO

EXEC sp_add_jobserver
    @job_name = N'Daily Full Backup - TestDB';
GO

Verify the job was created in SSMS under SQL Server Agent > Jobs. Right-click the job and select Start Job at Step to test it manually.

Verify Backup Integrity

Always verify your backups are valid. A backup you cannot restore is worthless:

RESTORE VERIFYONLY
FROM DISK = N'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL17.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Backup\TestDB_Full.bak';
GO

A successful verification returns:

The backup set on file 1 is valid.

Step 10: SQL Server vs MySQL vs PostgreSQL

Choosing a database engine depends on your stack, team expertise, licensing budget, and workload type. Here is a practical comparison of the three major relational database engines. If you work across multiple database platforms, our guides on managing MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server with SQLPad can help with a unified interface.

SQL Server 2025 stands out with native vector search and AI integration – you can store embeddings, create vector indexes, and run similarity searches directly in T-SQL without external tools. The new regex functions and improved JSON handling close long-standing gaps with PostgreSQL. For Windows-centric environments and .NET applications, SQL Server remains the natural choice.

PostgreSQL is the strongest open-source option for complex workloads. It handles advanced data types, complex joins, and ACID compliance better than MySQL. If licensing cost matters and your team knows SQL well, PostgreSQL is hard to beat.

MySQL dominates web applications – simple, fast for read-heavy workloads, and well-supported by every hosting provider and framework. If you run WordPress, Laravel, or similar stacks, MySQL or its fork MariaDB is the standard pick.

Conclusion

SQL Server 2025 Developer Edition is installed and running on Windows Server 2025 with remote access configured, firewall rules in place, and automated backups scheduled. The installation gives you the full Enterprise feature set for development and testing at zero cost.

For production deployments, add TLS encryption for client connections (TDS 8.0 with TLS 1.3 is supported natively in SQL Server 2025), set up Always On availability groups for high availability, configure Windows authentication with Active Directory instead of mixed mode, and implement a proper backup strategy with offsite storage and regular restore testing.