In October 2025, the routine update of the Microsoft Defender, which is one of the most trusted security software, confused thousands of SQL administrators with a false alert stating that SQL Server 2017 and 2019 were no longer supported. This alert was totally false. Both versions still have years of support ahead.
- SQL Server 2019 is supported till January 2030
- Server 2017 will reach the end of support in October 2027
The unnecessary automated end-of-life alert for SQL Server occurred at the time when Microsoft rolled out the SQL Server 2025 preview and Release Candidate 1 (RC1) versions. So, out of panic, many SQL admins and users started migrating their SQL Server 2017 and 2019 to the 2025 version. However, they started experiencing upgrade failures, errors when attaching database after upgrade, and data consistency issues.
Important Tip: If the issues have occurred due to corruption in the SQL database files, utilize a specialized SQL database repair tool, such as Stellar Repair for MS SQL. This tool offers a quick repair and recovery of corrupted SQL databases with complete integrity.
What Exactly Happened? The Defender False End-of-Life Alert
According to Techradar, the SQL Server 2017 and 2019 customers receive wrong notifications about support ending for these versions due to a bug in Microsoft Defender. Microsoft has acknowledged this issue on 9th October, 2025 (almost 24 hours after the issue was occurred), and stated that this is a code-related issue caused by some recent change to end-of-support software. The company added that they are working to find a fix for this issue and will share an update once it is available.
Despite Microsoft Defender mistakenly flagging an incident alert as false, it caused concern and additional workload for many enterprise database admins. They started checking their systems, running security patching, and creating backups of their databases.
The incorrect alert came just after Microsoft had released the preview and first test version of SQL Server 2025. Since many organizations were already busy in testing the new version, this wrong alert created extra confusion. This made them pause the testing of new features in SQL Server 2025 and started verifying the support timelines and running integrity checks to ensure that their server environment is risk-free.
How to be Ready for Such Sudden False Alerts?
The Windows Defender false alert for SQL Server 2019 and 2017 end-of-life shows how important it is for SQL admins and IT teams to stay prepared for such sudden incidents. In case of such an incident, admins should first confirm the information about the alert from the official sources and websites and try to get a solution. A regular habit of running integrity checks on SQL Server after any such defender alerts or any Windows update can help identify inconsistency issues early and prevent unnecessary panic.
What if the Integrity Checks Fail and SQL Database gets Corrupted?
In cases where the SQL database gets corrupted, a reliable SQL repair tool can come in handy. To repair and recover corrupt SQL database (MDF and NDF) files, there are a number of tools available in the market. Among them, Stellar Repair for MS SQL is one of the admin-trusted tools that can repair MDF and NDF files of any size and in any condition. It can help you recover tables, stored procedures, indexes, and other objects from corrupt SQL database file with complete precision. So, whether you’re using SQL Server 2016, 2017, 2019, or any other, this repair tool can help you fix corruption issues in the SQL database with ease.
Conclusion
A false alert by Windows Defender on the SQL Server 2017 and 2019 end-of-life caused panic among the database administrators. In case of such alerts, it is recommended that admins first verify such misleading alerts, before taking any counter step. If in case, there are issues within the database, then take the help of a reliable SQL database repair and recovery tool.
