Restoring Microsoft SQL Server Fails Due to Damaged System Databases

• This article is for Windows only

The restore of Microsoft SQL Server databases with CSSB requires that the SQL Server be online and available. If the SQL server cannot start, all attempts to restore will fail. If the system databases (model, master, and msdb) are damaged or corrupted, then the SQL Server cannot start and attempts to recover with CSSB will fail.

To resolve this issue, the system databases can be rebuilt so that the SQL Server can start. Carbonite Safe Server Backup can then be used to restore the backed up databases to bring the database(s) back to the desired state.

How to Rebuild System Databases

Microsoft provides detailed instructions on how to rebuild system databases. Please refer to these articles for your version of SQL Server.

• SQL Server 2005: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144259%28SQL.90%29.aspx#maintenancescripts
  • Search for the section titled: To rebuild system databases for a default instance of SQL Server 2005 from the command prompt
• SQL Server 2008: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd207003%28v=sql.100%29.aspx
• SQL Server 2008 R2: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd207003%28v=sql.105%29.aspx
• SQL Server 2012: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd207003.aspx

Once the system databases have been rebuilt, the SQL service will be able to start. You can now use CSSB to restore system databases to their desired state.