Detach a Database

This topic describes how to detach a database in SQL Server 2012 by using SQL Server Management Studio or Transact-SQL. The detached files remain and can be reattached by using CREATE DATABASE with the FOR ATTACH or FOR ATTACH_REBUILD_LOG option. The files can be moved to another server and attached there.

In This Topic

• Before you begin:

  Limitations and Restrictions

  Security

• To detach a database, using:

  SQL Server Management Studio

  Transact-SQL

Before You Begin

Limitations and Restrictions

For a list of limitations and restrictions, see Database Detach and Attach (SQL Server).

Security

Permissions

Requires membership in the db_owner fixed database role.

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Using SQL Server Management Studio

To detach a database

1. In SQL Server Management Studio Object Explorer, connect to the instance of the SQL Server Database Engine and then expand the instance.

2. Expand Databases, and select the name of the user database you want to detach.

3. Right-click the database name, point to Tasks, and then click Detach. The Detach Database dialog box appears.

   • Databases to detach
     Lists the databases to detach.

   • Database Name
     Displays the name of the database to be detached.

   • Drop Connections
     Disconnect connections to the specified database.

     Note

     You cannot detach a database with active connections.

   • Update Statistics
     By default, the detach operation retains any out-of-date optimization statistics when detaching the database; to update the existing optimization statistics, click this check box.

   • Keep Full-Text Catalogs
     By default, the detach operation keeps any full-text catalogs that are associated with the database. To remove them, clear the Keep Full-Text Catalogs check box. This option appears only when you are upgrading a database from SQL Server 2005.

   • Status
     Displays one of the following states: Ready or Not ready.

   • Message
     The Message column may display information about the database, as follows:

     • When a database is involved with replication, the Status is Not ready and the Message column displays Database replicated.

     • When a database has one or more active connections, the Status is Not ready and the Message column displays <number_of_active_connections> Active connection(s) — for example: 1 Active connection(s). Before you can detach the database, you need to disconnect any active connections by selecting Drop Connections.

     To obtain more information about a message, click the hyperlinked text to open Activity Monitor.

4. When you are ready to detach the database, click OK.

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Using Transact-SQL

To detach a database

1. Connect to the Database Engine.

2. From the Standard bar, click New Query.

3. Copy and paste the following example into the query window and click Execute. This example detaches the AdventureWorks2012 database with skipchecks set to true.

EXEC sp_detach_db 'AdventureWorks2012', 'true';

See Also

Reference

sp_detach_db (Transact-SQL)

Concepts

Database Detach and Attach (SQL Server)