Change The Instance Name On Microsoft SQL Server

1. Login on to the server you want to change the name of

2. Run this in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio

3. Click on Create New Query

4. Enter this code to get the existing name.

select @@servername

5. After code is entered click the red exclamation point to execute

6. The current name will be returned.

7. Next enter the following text filling in the appropriate information for you environment.

sp_dropserver 'old_name'

go

sp_addserver 'new_name','local'

go

8. After code is entered click the red exclamation point to execute

9. Now close Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio

10. Run the command prompt Administrator and run the following two commands

net stop mssqlserver

net start mssqlserver

11. Now reopen Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and rerun

select @@servername

12. Make sure the name matches the ‘new_name’