How to provide edition upgrade for existing VM without rebuild

Upgrading SQL Server Express to Web Edition In-Place on an Azure VM

You can perform an in-place edition upgrade of SQL Server on an Azure VM—no VM redeployment required—by following these steps:

Obtain Setup Media

If you have Software Assurance, download the SQL Server Web Edition installation media from Volume Licensing Center.

Otherwise, deploy a temporary Azure Marketplace VM image with Web Edition and copy its setup media folder (typically C:\SQLServerFull) to your target VM.

Remove the SQL IaaS Agent Extension

Use Azure PowerShell or CLI to remove the SQL VM extension so you can change the edition:

Remove-AzSqlVM -ResourceGroupName <RG> -Name <SQL-VM-Name>

Run Edition-Upgrade

On your VM, launch setup.exe from the Web Edition media.

In the installer, navigate to Maintenance ➔ Edition Upgrade.

Follow prompts until “Ready to upgrade edition,” then click Upgrade.

The SQL Server service and related services (e.g., Analysis Services) will restart automatically.

Re-Register the SQL IaaS Agent Extension

After upgrade completes, re-enable the Azure SQL VM extension so portal metadata and management features work again:

$vm = Get-AzVM -Name <SQL-VM-Name> -ResourceGroupName <RG>
New-AzSqlVM -ResourceGroupName $vm.ResourceGroupName -Name $vm.Name `
            -Location $vm.Location -LicenseType PAYG

(Use AzureHybridBenefit for BYOL scenarios.)

Update Edition for Billing

In the Azure portal, open your SQL VM resource, select Configure, choose Web Edition under Edition, and click Apply. This aligns your billing SKU with the new edition.

Once complete, connect via SSMS and run SELECT @@VERSION; to verify you’re on Web Edition. Your VM remains intact, and Azure billing will reflect Web Edition licensing going forward.