Starting and Restarting Services

You can start or restart an instance of SQL Server automatically or manually. Both the automatic and manual methods start an instance of SQL Server as a Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 service. You can start SQL Server with a variety of options such as single-user mode, minimal configuration mode, or with trace flags. You can start SQL Server by starting the SQL Server service from the command prompt.

Note

If you run sqlservr.exe from a command prompt, you cannot pause, stop, or resume an instance of SQL Server using any net commands.

Important

If SQL Server is shut down with open shared memory or a named pipe connection and is then restarted with the credentials of a different user, it may fail to start. This is normal behavior for connection handles controlled by the operating system. To restart SQL Server, end all SQL Server client processes manually or by restarting the computer. Possible errors include "Server shared memory provider failed to initialize. Error: 0x5" and "Server named pipe provider failed to listen on [ \\.\pipe\sql\query ]. Error: 0x5" (The pipe name may vary.)

In This Section

• Starting the SQL Server Service Automatically
  Configures the service to start automatically at startup with SQL Server Configuration Manager.

• Starting SQL Server Manually
  A manual start may be appropriate for a test or development system, or for a mobile disconnected user that only needs access to data occasionally.

• Starting SQL Server in Single-User Mode
  Usually reserved for troubleshooting or during major modifications.

• Starting SQL Server with Minimal Configuration
  Starting in minimal configuration is useful when troubleshooting problems.

• Using the SQL Server Service Startup Options
  Lists all the startup options.