🔄 Maintenance

Upgrade & Rollback Grafana on Windows

Safe step-by-step procedure for upgrading Grafana to a new version on Windows, including backup strategy, MSI upgrade execution and how to roll back if an issue is discovered after upgrading.

Before you upgrade — checklist

Read the release notes for breaking changes and deprecated features.
Back up the Grafana data directory (dashboards, users, data sources are stored here).
Back up grafana.ini and any custom configuration files.
Note the current Grafana version — you may need to download the previous MSI if rollback is required.
Schedule the upgrade during a maintenance window if Grafana is business-critical.

Step 1 — Back up Grafana data

The Grafana data directory contains the SQLite database (dashboards, users, alerts) and other state. Back it up before any upgrade.

# Default data directory location
# C:\Program Files\GrafanaLabs\grafana\data
# Stop the service first
Stop-Service -Name "Grafana" -Force

# Copy entire data directory to backup location
$backupPath = "C:\Backups\grafana-backup-$(Get-Date -Format 'yyyyMMdd-HHmm')"
Copy-Item -Path "C:\Program Files\GrafanaLabs\grafana\data" -Destination $backupPath -Recurse
Copy-Item -Path "C:\Program Files\GrafanaLabs\grafana\conf\grafana.ini" -Destination $backupPath

Write-Host "Backup complete: $backupPath"

Tip: Also note what version of Grafana you're running before upgrading: grafana-server.exe -v from the bin directory.

Step 2 — Download the new MSI

Get the new version MSI from grafana.com/grafana/download. Verify the digital signature before proceeding — the publisher must read Grafana Labs.

# Verify checksum of downloaded MSI
Get-FileHash "grafana-11.6.0.windows-amd64.msi" -Algorithm SHA256
# Compare with the hash shown on the Grafana download page

Step 3 — Run the upgrade MSI

The Grafana MSI supports in-place upgrades. Run the new MSI as Administrator while the service is stopped. The installer preserves your existing configuration and data directory.

# Ensure service is stopped
Stop-Service -Name "Grafana" -Force

# Run the new MSI (double-click or via command line)
msiexec /i "grafana-11.6.0.windows-amd64.msi" /quiet /norestart

# Start the upgraded service
Start-Service -Name "Grafana"

# Verify new version
Start-Sleep -Seconds 5
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "http://localhost:3000/api/health" -UseBasicParsing

Note: The /quiet flag runs the upgrade silently. Remove it if you want to see the installer UI. A reboot is rarely required but the installer may prompt for one.

Step 4 — Verify after upgrade

Check service status

Get-Service -Name "Grafana"

Open Grafana UI

Navigate to http://localhost:3000. Log in and confirm the version shown in Help → About matches the new release.

Check dashboards and data sources

Verify your existing dashboards load correctly and data source connections are intact. Check Connections → Data sources and test each one.

Review Grafana logs

Get-Content "C:\Program Files\GrafanaLabs\grafana\data\log\grafana.log" -Tail 30

Look for any ERROR or WARN lines related to the upgrade.

Rollback procedure

If the new version causes issues, roll back by uninstalling the new version and reinstalling the previous one, then restoring your data backup.

# Stop service
Stop-Service -Name "Grafana" -Force

# Uninstall current version via Apps & Features
# or silently:
# Get the product code from registry first:
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Where-Object { $_.Name -like "*Grafana*" } | Select-Object Name, Version, IdentifyingNumber

# Uninstall using the product code (replace {GUID} with actual value)
msiexec /x "{GUID}" /quiet /norestart

# Restore data directory from backup
Remove-Item "C:\Program Files\GrafanaLabs\grafana\data" -Recurse -Force
Copy-Item -Path "C:\Backups\grafana-backup-20260608-1200\data" -Destination "C:\Program Files\GrafanaLabs\grafana\data" -Recurse

# Restore grafana.ini
Copy-Item "C:\Backups\grafana-backup-20260608-1200\grafana.ini" "C:\Program Files\GrafanaLabs\grafana\conf\grafana.ini"

# Install the previous MSI
msiexec /i "grafana-11.5.0.windows-amd64.msi" /quiet /norestart

# Start the service
Start-Service -Name "Grafana"

Tip: Keep the previous MSI installer file until you've confirmed the new version is stable. Download previous versions from GitHub Releases.

Automated backup script

Schedule this script with Windows Task Scheduler to run weekly backups before upgrades.

# grafana-backup.ps1
$grafanaData = "C:\Program Files\GrafanaLabs\grafana\data"
$grafanaConf = "C:\Program Files\GrafanaLabs\grafana\conf\grafana.ini"
$backupRoot  = "C:\Backups\Grafana"
$timestamp   = Get-Date -Format "yyyyMMdd-HHmm"
$dest        = "$backupRoot\grafana-$timestamp"

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $dest -Force | Out-Null
Copy-Item -Path $grafanaData -Destination $dest -Recurse
Copy-Item -Path $grafanaConf -Destination $dest

# Remove backups older than 30 days
Get-ChildItem $backupRoot -Directory | Where-Object { $_.CreationTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-30) } | Remove-Item -Recurse -Force

Write-Host "Grafana backup complete: $dest"