diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/PetaPoco.cs b/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/PetaPoco.cs
index 63278889a2..88ff456ff6 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/PetaPoco.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/PetaPoco.cs
@@ -739,6 +739,11 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Persistence
 	    /// <param name="take"></param>
 	    internal virtual void BuildSqlDbSpecificPagingQuery(DBType databaseType, long skip, long take, string sql, string sqlSelectRemoved, string sqlOrderBy, ref object[] args, out string sqlPage)
 	    {
+            // this is overriden in UmbracoDatabase, and if running SqlServer >=2012, the database type
+            // is switched from SqlServer to SqlServerCE in order to use the better paging syntax that
+            // SqlCE supports, and SqlServer >=2012 too.
+            // so the first case is actually for SqlServer <2012, and second case is CE *and* SqlServer >=2012
+
             if (databaseType == DBType.SqlServer || databaseType == DBType.Oracle)
             {
                 sqlSelectRemoved = rxOrderBy.Replace(sqlSelectRemoved, "");
@@ -746,8 +751,16 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Persistence
                 {
                     sqlSelectRemoved = "peta_inner.* FROM (SELECT " + sqlSelectRemoved + ") peta_inner";
                 }
-                sqlPage = string.Format("SELECT * FROM (SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER ({0}) peta_rn, {1}) peta_paged WHERE peta_rn>@{2} AND peta_rn<=@{3}",
-                                        sqlOrderBy == null ? "ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)" : sqlOrderBy, sqlSelectRemoved, args.Length, args.Length + 1);
+
+                // split to ensure that peta_rn is the last field to be selected, else Page<int> would fail
+                // the resulting sql is not perfect, NPoco has a much nicer way to do it, but it would require
+                // importing large parts of NPoco
+                var pos = sqlSelectRemoved.IndexOf("FROM");
+                var sqlColumns = sqlSelectRemoved.Substring(0, pos);
+                var sqlFrom = sqlSelectRemoved.Substring(pos);
+
+                sqlPage = string.Format("SELECT * FROM (SELECT {0}, ROW_NUMBER() OVER ({1}) peta_rn {2}) peta_paged WHERE peta_rn>@{3} AND peta_rn<=@{4}",
+                                        sqlColumns, sqlOrderBy ?? "ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)", sqlFrom, args.Length, args.Length + 1);
                 args = args.Concat(new object[] { skip, skip + take }).ToArray();
             }
             else if (databaseType == DBType.SqlServerCE)
@@ -774,7 +787,7 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Persistence
 				throw new Exception("Unable to parse SQL statement for paged query");
 			if (_dbType == DBType.Oracle && sqlSelectRemoved.StartsWith("*"))
                 throw new Exception("Query must alias '*' when performing a paged query.\neg. select t.* from table t order by t.id");
-            
+
 		    BuildSqlDbSpecificPagingQuery(_dbType, skip, take, sql, sqlSelectRemoved, sqlOrderBy, ref args, out sqlPage);
 		}
 
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/SqlSyntax/SqlServerSyntaxProvider.cs b/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/SqlSyntax/SqlServerSyntaxProvider.cs
index 4c35c90e1b..6cc97bdfb3 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/SqlSyntax/SqlServerSyntaxProvider.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Core/Persistence/SqlSyntax/SqlServerSyntaxProvider.cs
@@ -6,16 +6,11 @@ using Umbraco.Core.Persistence.DatabaseModelDefinitions;
 namespace Umbraco.Core.Persistence.SqlSyntax
 {
     /// <summary>
-    /// Represents an SqlSyntaxProvider for Sql Server
+    /// Represents an SqlSyntaxProvider for Sql Server.
     /// </summary>
-    [SqlSyntaxProviderAttribute(Constants.DatabaseProviders.SqlServer)]
+    [SqlSyntaxProvider(Constants.DatabaseProviders.SqlServer)]
     public class SqlServerSyntaxProvider : MicrosoftSqlSyntaxProviderBase<SqlServerSyntaxProvider>
     {
-        public SqlServerSyntaxProvider()
-        {
-            
-        }     
-
         /// <summary>
         /// Gets/sets the version of the current SQL server instance
         /// </summary>
@@ -31,7 +26,7 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Persistence.SqlSyntax
                 switch (firstPart)
                 {
                     case "13":
-                        _versionName = SqlServerVersionName.V2014;
+                        _versionName = SqlServerVersionName.V2016;
                         break;
                     case "12":
                         _versionName = SqlServerVersionName.V2014;
@@ -75,7 +70,7 @@ namespace Umbraco.Core.Persistence.SqlSyntax
         {
             var items = db.Fetch<dynamic>("SELECT TableName = t.Name,ColumnName = c.Name,dc.Name,dc.[Definition] FROM sys.tables t INNER JOIN sys.default_constraints dc ON t.object_id = dc.parent_object_id INNER JOIN sys.columns c ON dc.parent_object_id = c.object_id AND c.column_id = dc.parent_column_id");
             return items.Select(x => new Tuple<string, string, string, string>(x.TableName, x.ColumnName, x.Name, x.Definition));
-        } 
+        }
 
         public override IEnumerable<string> GetTablesInSchema(Database db)
         {
@@ -120,9 +115,9 @@ from sys.tables as T inner join sys.indexes as I on T.[object_id] = I.[object_id
    inner join sys.all_columns as AC on IC.[object_id] = AC.[object_id] and IC.[column_id] = AC.[column_id] 
 WHERE I.name NOT LIKE 'PK_%'
 order by T.name, I.name");
-            return items.Select(item => new Tuple<string, string, string, bool>(item.TABLE_NAME, item.INDEX_NAME, item.COLUMN_NAME, 
+            return items.Select(item => new Tuple<string, string, string, bool>(item.TABLE_NAME, item.INDEX_NAME, item.COLUMN_NAME,
                 item.UNIQUE == 1)).ToList();
-            
+
         }
 
         public override bool DoesTableExist(Database db, string tableName)
@@ -164,7 +159,7 @@ order by T.name, I.name");
             switch (systemMethod)
             {
                 case SystemMethods.NewGuid:
-                    return "NEWID()";                
+                    return "NEWID()";
                 case SystemMethods.CurrentDateTime:
                     return "GETDATE()";
                 //case SystemMethods.NewSequentialId:
@@ -181,11 +176,11 @@ order by T.name, I.name");
             get { return "ALTER TABLE [{0}] DROP CONSTRAINT [DF_{0}_{1}]"; }
         }
 
-        
+
         public override string DropIndex { get { return "DROP INDEX {0} ON {1}"; } }
 
         public override string RenameColumn { get { return "sp_rename '{0}.{1}', '{2}', 'COLUMN'"; } }
 
-        
+
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file