View the SQL Server error log
Applies to: 
SQL Server
View the SQL Server error log to ensure that processes complete successfully (for example, backup and restore operations, batch commands, or other scripts and processes). This procedure can be helpful to detect any current or potential problem areas, including automatic recovery messages (particularly if an instance of SQL Server stopped and restarted), kernel messages, or other server-level error messages.
How to view the error log
You can view the SQL Server error log with SQL Server Management Studio or any text editor. For more information about how to view the error log, see Open Log File Viewer.
On Windows, the default location for the error log is
<drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.<n>\MSSQL\LOG\ERRORLOG.On Linux, the default location for the error log is
/var/opt/mssql/log.
Note
The files are called ERRORLOG.<n>, where <n> is an integer. The current error log has no extension.
A new error log is created each time an instance of SQL Server is started, although the sp_cycle_errorlog system stored procedure can be used to cycle the error log files without having to restart the instance of SQL Server. Typically, SQL Server retains backups of the previous six logs, and gives the most recent log backup the extension .1, the second most recent the extension .2, and so on. The current error log has no extension.
You can also view the SQL Server error log on instances of SQL Server that are offline or can't start. For more information, see View Offline Log Files.