Trying to restore from .bak file old version to new

Question

The database was backed up on a server running version 8.00.2039. That version is incompatible with this server, which is running version 11.00.2100. Either restore the database on a server that supports the backup, or use a backup that is compatible with this server. (Microsoft.SqlServer.SmoExtended)

I am trying to restore and I get this message.. is there anyway to restore this backup without having to install SQL Server 2005?

Answer 1

SQL Server 2012 (v11.0) doesn't support direct upgrade from SQL Server 2000 (v8.0).

You'll have to use a "in-between" step restoring your SQL Server 2000 database to a SQL Server 2005 or 2008 instance, and then do a backup from there, in order to get your .bak file into the latest database server.

There's no trick or workaround for this - that's just the way it is, and you'll have to deal with it.

There are tons of blog posts on this topic, e.g.

• Migration SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2012