Help > IT Topics > IT Backup: MS SQL Procedures > Restore a full database backup

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

2.Right-click Databases and select Restore Database...

3.On the General page, use the Source section to specify the source and location of the backup sets to restore. Select the database to restore from the drop-down list. The list contains only databases that have been backed up according to the msdb backup history.

4.In the Destination section, the Database box is automatically populated with the name of the database to be restored. To change the name of the database, enter the new name in the Database box.

5.In the Restore to box, leave the default as To the last backup taken or select Timeline to access the Backup Timeline dialog box to manually select a point in time to stop the recovery action. For more information on selecting a specific point in time, see Backup Timeline.

6.In the Backup sets to restore grid, select the backups to restore. This grid displays the backups available for the specified location. By default, a recovery plan is suggested. To override the suggested recovery plan, you can change the selections in the grid. Backups that depend on the restoration of an earlier backup are automatically deselected when the earlier backup is deselected. For information about the columns in the Backup sets to restore grid, see Restore Database (General Page).

7.Optionally, select Files in the Select a page pane to access the Files dialog box. From here, you can restore the database to a new location by specifying a new restore destination for each file in the Restore the database files as grid. For more information about this grid, see Restore Database (Files Page).

8.To view or select the advanced options, on the Options page, in the Restore options panel, you can select any of the following options, if appropriate for your situation:

•WITH options (not required):

oOverwrite the existing database (WITH REPLACE)

oPreserve the replication settings (WITH KEEP_REPLICATION)

oRestrict access to the restored database (WITH RESTRICTED_USER)

•Select an option for the Recovery state box. This box determines the state of the database after the restore operation.

oRESTORE WITH RECOVERY is the default behavior that leaves the database ready for use by rolling back the uncommitted transactions. No additional transaction logs can't be restored. Select this option if you're restoring all of the necessary backups now.

oRESTORE WITH NORECOVERY which leaves the database non-operational, and doesn't roll back the uncommitted transactions. Additional transaction logs can be restored. The database can't be used until it's recovered.

oRESTORE WITH STANDBY which leaves the database in read-only mode. It undoes uncommitted transactions, but saves the undo actions in a standby file so that recovery effects can be reverted.

•Take tail-log backup before restore. Not all restore scenarios require a tail-log backup. For more information, see Scenarios That Require a Tail-Log Backup from Tail-Log Backups (SQL Server).

•Restore operations may fail if there are active connections to the database. Check the Close existing connections option to ensure that all active connections between Management Studio and the database are closed. This check box sets the database to single user mode before the restore operations, and sets the database to multi-user mode when complete.

•Select Prompt before restoring each backup if you wish to be prompted between each restore operation. This isn't necessary unless the database is large and you wish to monitor the status of the restore operation.

•For more information about these restore options, see Restore Database (Options Page).

9.Select OK.