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Starting SQL Server Manually

You can manually start an instance of Microsoft SQL Server or SQL Server Agent using the following methods.

Method

Description

SQL Server Configuration Manager

Start, pause, resume, and stop an instance of a local SQL Server or SQL Server Agent service.

Command prompt

Start an instance of SQL Server or SQL Server Agent service from a command prompt by the net start command or by running sqlservr.exe.

Use sqlservr.exe to start SQL Server from a command prompt only to troubleshoot SQL Server. Before you start an instance of SQL Server using sqlservr.exe from a command prompt (independent of SQL Server Configuration Manager), consider the following:

  • SQL Server runs in the security context of the user, not the security context of the account assigned to run SQL Server during setup.

  • All system messages appear in the window used to start an instance of SQL Server.

  • You cannot pause, stop, or resume an instance of SQL Server as a Microsoft Windows service using SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Server Configuration Manager, the Services application in Control Panel, or any net commands (for example, net start, net pause, net continue, and net stop).

  • You must shut down the instance of SQL Server before logging off Windows.

  • Any manually entered command prompt options take precedence over the default command prompt options written to the Windows registry by SQL Server Setup.

  • Minimizing the Command Prompt window will cause Windows to remove nearly all resources from SQL Server. This is normal, because SQL Server is not designed to operate from a minimized Command Prompt window.

  • SQL Server Configuration Manager and SQL Server Management Studio show the service as stopped.