Use the Copy Database Wizard

In SQL Server Management Studio, in Object Explorer, expand Databases, right-click a database, point to Tasks, and then click Copy Database.

From the Select a Source Server page, specify the server with the database to move or copy, and to enter login information. After you select the authentication method and enter login information, click Next to establish the connection to the source server. This connection remains open throughout the session.

Source server

Select the name of the server on which the database or databases you want to move or copy are located, or click the browse (...) button to locate the server you want. The server must be at least SQL Server 2005.

Use Windows Authentication

Allow a user to connect through a Microsoft Windows user account.

Use SQL Server Authentication

Allow a user to connect by providing a SQL Server Authentication user name and password.

User name

Enter the user name to connect with. This option is only available if you have selected to connect using SQL Server Authentication .

Password

Enter the password for the login. This option is only available if you have selected to connect using SQL Server Authentication.

Next

Connect to the server and validate the user. This process checks whether the user is a member of the sysadmin fixed server role on the selected computer.

From the Select a Destination Server page, specify the server where the database will be moved or copied. If you set the source and destination servers to the same server instance, you will make a copy of a database. In this case you must rename the database at a later point in the wizard. The source database name can be used for the copied or moved database only if name conflicts do not exist on the destination server. If name conflicts exist, you must resolve them manually on the destination server before you can use the source database name there.

Destination server

Select the name of the server to which the database or databases will be moved or copied, or click the browse (...) button to locate a destination server.

Note
You can use a destination that is a clustered server; the Copy Database Wizard will make sure you select only shared drives on a clustered destination server.

Use Windows Authentication

Allow a user to connect through a Microsoft Windows user account.

Use SQL Server Authentication

Allow a user to connect by providing a SQL Server Authentication user name and password.

User name

Enter the user name to connect with. This option is only available if you have selected SQL Server Authentication.

Password

Enter the password for the login. This option is only available if you have selected SQL Server Authentication.

Next

Connect to the server and validate the user. This process checks whether the user has the permissions listed above on the selected computers.

From the Select a Transfer Method page, select the transfer method.

Use the detach and attach method

Detach the database from the source server, copy the database files (.mdf, .ndf, and .ldf) to the destination server, and attach the database at the destination server. This method is usually the faster method because the principal work is reading the source disk and writing the destination disk. No SQL Server logic is required to create objects within the database, or create data storage structures. This method can be slower, however, if the database contains a large amount of allocated but unused space. For instance, a new and practically empty database that is created allocating 100 MB, copies the entire 100 MB, even if only 5 MB is full.

Note
This method makes the database unavailable to users during the transfer.

If a failure occurs, reattach the source database

When a database is copied, the original database files are always reattached to the source server. Use this box to reattach original files to the source database if a database move cannot be completed.

Use the SQL Management Object method

This method reads the definition of each database object on the source database and creates each object in the destination database. Then it transfers the data from the source tables to the destination tables, recreating indexes and metadata.

Note
Database users can continue to access the database during the transfer.

From the Select Database page, select the database or databases you want to move or copy from the source server to the destination server. See Limitations and Restrictions in the 'Before You Begin' section of this topic.

Move

Move the database to the destination server.

Copy

Copy the database to the destination server.

Source

Displays the databases that exist on the source server.

Status

Displays OK if the database can be moved. Otherwise displays the reason why the database cannot be moved.

Refresh

Refresh the list of databases.

Next

Start the validation process, and then move to the next screen.

From the Configure Destination Database page, change the database name if appropriate and specify the location and names of the database files. This page appears once for each database being moved or copied.

From the Select Database Objects page, select the objects to include in the move or copy operation. This page is only available when the source and destination are different servers. To include an object, click the object name in the Available related objects box, and then click the >> button to move the object to the Selected related objects box. To exclude an object, click the object name in the Selected related objects box, and then click the << button to move the object to the Available related objects box. By default all objects of each selected type are transferred. To choose individual objects of any type, click the ellipsis button next to any object type in the Selected related objects box. This opens a dialog box where you can select individual objects.

Logins (All logins at run time)

Include logins in the move or copy operation. Selected by default.

Stored procedures from master database

Include stored procedures from the master database in the move or copy operation.

Note
Extended stored procedures and their associated DLLs are not eligible for automated copy.

SQL Server Agent jobs

Include jobs from the msdb database in the move or copy operation.

User-defined error messages

Include user-defined error messages in the move or copy operation.

Endpoints

Include endpoints defined in the source database.

Full-text catalog

Include full-text catalogs from the source database.

SSIS Package

Include SSIS packages defined in the source database.

Description

A description of the object.

From the Location of Source Database Files page, specify a file system share that contains the database files on the source server. This is required if the source and destination server instances are on different computers.

Database

Displays the name of each database being moved.

Folder location

Specify the location of the source database files on the file system.

For example: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL110.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA

File share on source server

Specify the location of the source database files as a path of a file share.

For example: "\\server_name\C$\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL110.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Data

The Copy Database Wizard creates a SSIS package to transfer the database From the Configure the Package page, customize the package if appropriate.

Package location

Displays where the SSIS package will be written.

Package name

Enter a name for the SSIS package.

Logging options

Select whether to store the logging information in the Windows event log, or in a text file.

Error log file path

Provide a path for the location of the log file. This option is only available if the text file logging option is selected.

From the Schedule the Package page, specify when you want the move or copy operation to start. If you are not a system administrator, you must specify a SQL Server Agent Proxy account that has access to the Integration Services (SSIS) Package execution subsystem.

Run immediately

Start the move or copy operation after you click Next.

Schedule

Start the move or copy operation later. The current schedule settings appear in the description box. To change the schedule, click Change.

Change

Open the New Job Schedule dialog box.

Integration Services proxy account

Select an available proxy account. To schedule the transfer, there must be at least one proxy account available to the user, configured with permission to the SQL Server Integration Services package execution subsystem.

To create a proxy account for SSIS package execution, in Object Explorer, expand SQL Server Agent, expand Proxies, right-click SSIS Package Execution, and then click New Proxy.

Members of the sysadmin fixed server role can select the SQL Server Agent Service Account, which has the necessary permissions.

From the Complete the Wizard page, review the summary of the selected options. Click Back to change an option. Click Finish to create the database. During the transfer, the Performing operation page monitors status information about the execution of the Copy Database Wizard.

Action

Lists each action being performed.

Status

Indicates whether the action as a whole succeeded or failed.

Message

Provides any messages returned from each step.