This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(256, 0%, 34%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EH%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
I tried to copy a SQL Server 2016 database multiple times to no avail:
Event Viewer says little:
- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="SQLISPackage130" />
<EventID Qualifiers="16385">12291</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2024-02-04T16:05:25.8340632Z" />
<EventRecordID>58666329</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="0" ThreadID="0" />
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>PHENOMVII</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-20" />
</System>
- <EventData>
<Data>CDW_PHENOMVII_PHENOMVII_3</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>
Could anyone offer a tip on how to diagnose this?
When you use the Copy Database Wizard, you have the option of selecting logging to a text file rather than Windows Event log. A text file is probably easier to find your way in than the Windows Event log. Although as I recall, the file is quite verbose, and the reason for the failure can be a little difficult to find. But it was a long time since I used CDW.
Any particular reason you use CDW rather than BACKUP/RESTORE?
Thank you. I used a text file per your suggestion and saw the error:
OnError,PHENOMVII,NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE,PHENOMVII_PHENOMVII_Transfer Objects Task,{98D20142-E853-48ED-8D87-E5647B77DEA2},{8C822B3D-E2E5-4D92-BFBD-17C7E393CF25},2/4/2024 12:40:19 PM,2/4/2024 12:40:19 PM,0,0x,Object reference not set to an instance of an object.StackTrace: at Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Tasks.TransferObjectsTask.TransferObjectsTask.CopyFile(String sourceFileName, String destinationFileName, Boolean overwriteOnExist)
I don't know why anything was null.
Wonder if it is related to the weird affix of the file names:
"Object reference not set to an instance of an object" - In my opinion, this is a bug in CDW.
This is the point where I would give up on CDW and use something else. Are you copying from a newer version of SQL Server to a lower? Or else, why did you pick the Copy Database Wizard?
First, I should confess that I am not well versed in SQL Server despite having been using it for almost 20 years. I am a heavy user but a super-light administrator. CDW is the only way I know to copy a database. What I need is very simple - make a copy of an Umbraco database on the same server so that I can mess with it without any risk because I am doing a major upgrade of Umbraco and the risk of messing up the database is high.
BACKUP/RESTORE is a lot easier. Not the least because it does not die with incomprehensible errors.
BACKUP DATABASE Umbraco TO DISK = 'C:\temp\Umbraco.bak' WITH INIT, COMPRESSION
RESTORE DATABASE Umrbaco_copy FROM DISK = 'C:\temp\Umbraco.bak' WITH
MOVE '<name1>' TO '<path>\Umbracocopy.mdf',
MOVE '<name2>' TO '<path>\Umbracocopy.ldf'
name1 and name2 are the logical names of the database files. You can get with
EXEC sp_helpdb db
path can be whatever you fancy, but I would copy the paths from the output of sp_helpdb and modify the names accordingly.
Thanks a lot for all the help. I am all set now. Per your tip, I wanted to give the database backup/restore wizard a shot first because I already backed up the database yesterday. I restored the database to a new one (restored database Umbraco to a new database Umbraco2). Everything looks good so far - the original database is still working and the new instance works like the original one.