Attaching SQL Server database without log file

I needed to attach SQL Server 2008 database to server. There was no log file, just mdf. I don’t know why but it is not very easy to get this database online. After some digging in internet I found solution.

I suggest you to read and try out example by Paul S. Randal TechEd Demo: Creating, detaching, re-attaching, and fixing a suspect database. I also suggest you to bookmark this posting, you never know…. I found simplest solution from stackoverflow: How to recover database from MDF in SQL Server 2005? It works also for SQL Server 2008.

1. Create database with same name as MDF file you have.
2. Stop SQL Server and swap MDF files. Make sure you also keep new database you just created.
3. Start SQL Server. Database will be now in suspect state because log file is not correct.
4. Run the following script:
   USE [master]
   GO
   ALTER DATABASE [MyDatabase] SET EMERGENCY
   GO
   ALTER DATABASE [MyDatabase] SET SINGLE_USER
   GO
   DBCC CHECKDB ([MyDatabase], REPAIR_ALLOW_DATA_LOSS)
   GO
   ALTER DATABASE [MyDatabase] SET MULTI_USER
   GO
   ALTER DATABASE [MyDatabase] SET ONLINE
   GO

When I ran this script I got the following output.

Msg 5173, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
One or more files do not match the primary file of the database. If you are attempting to attach a database, retry the operation with the correct files.  If this is an existing database, the file may be corrupted and should be restored from a backup.
Log file ‘c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS2008\MSSQL\DATA\MyDatabase_log.ldf’ does not match the primary file.  It may be from a different database or the log may have been rebuilt previously.
Warning: The log for database ‘MyDatabase’ has been rebuilt. Transactional consistency has been lost. The RESTORE chain was broken, and the server no longer has context on the previous log files, so you will need to know what they were. You should run DBCC CHECKDB to validate physical consistency. The database has been put in dbo-only mode. When you are ready to make the database available for use, you will need to reset database options and delete any extra log files.
DBCC results for ‘MyDatabase’.
Service Broker Msg 9675, State 1: Message Types analyzed: 14.
Service Broker Msg 9676, State 1: Service Contracts analyzed: 6.
Service Broker Msg 9667, State 1: Services analyzed: 3.
Service Broker Msg 9668, State 1: Service Queues analyzed: 3.
Service Broker Msg 9669, State 1: Conversation Endpoints analyzed: 0.
Service Broker Msg 9674, State 1: Conversation Groups analyzed: 0.
Service Broker Msg 9670, State 1: Remote Service Bindings analyzed: 0.
Service Broker Msg 9605, State 1: Conversation Priorities analyzed: 0.
… Long list of GBCC messages …

CHECKDB found 0 allocation errors and 0 consistency errors in database ‘MyDatabase’.
DBCC execution completed. If DBCC printed error messages, contact your system administrator.

You can see the error message in the output but that was no problem after all. My database is now online and works as expected.