Hi David,

Have you seen this post about Migrate SQL CE to SQL 2008 express or SQL CE to SQL 2008 maybe some of the links can help you.

http://www.bo-mortensen.dk/2012/02/migrating-umbraco-sqlce-database-to-mssql/

http://our.umbraco.org/forum/core/general/39643-Migrating-from-SQL-CE-to-Express

http://www.microsoft.com/web/post/migrate-a-database-to-sql-server

/Dennis

Hey Dennis,

Thanks for the very quick response! I have now tried going through your links one by one:

Link 1: He links to a dead site in his guide.

Link 2: The "Export SQL Server Compact" package he recommends I install gives me the following error, when I try to export the schema and data: [FileNotFoundException: Could not find file 'C:\Users\David Hammer\Desktop\Aller Nyeste Notat\AppData\Umbraco20140220220625.sql'.]

Link 3: Now I've tried this 4 times, all double checked with the right information, and it doesn't work. It says failed migration every time. :(

Many thanks, but any other suggestions?

Hi David,

Okay, could this be a guide for you http://erikej.blogspot.dk/2011/03/migrate-sql-server-compact-database-to.html and http://erikej.blogspot.dk/2012/02/migrating-databases-between-sql-server.html

If you haven't seen these blog posts before. Or you could try to use Lee Kelleher package called Export SQL Server Compact http://our.umbraco.org/projects/backoffice-extensions/export-sql-server-compact

Hope this can help you.

/Dennis

Hi David,

I often use SQLCe for initial dev and migrate to SQL Express before going into production (would never use Ce for production, but that's another story...). The best tool I've found for this is SQLCe Toolbox. Note, the only time this has ever failed for me is because the latest version supports SQLCe v4 whereas I think Umbraco uses 3.5. On the link above there's a download for the stand-alone 3.5 export version, which is what I use regularly, and it does work - it maintains all your keys etc.

The other issue you may face is that most of the tools (including Webmatrix when I last tried) will only deal with SQLCe databases 256Mb or less in size, so this may also be why your conversions are failing. Again SQLCe Toolbox is great because it lets you specify a larger size of db to export - there's an option to tell it how big the database is on the first screen of the app. If the database is huge then it simply generates several SQL files to run in sequence.

I hope this helps. Let us know if you have any specific issues with it, or alternatively I'd happily try to convert it for you, but I realise security may not allow :)

Hi Dan,

Thank you too, for the reply, very much appreciated!

I figured out that the SQLCe version was 4.0, so I downloaded the standalone for 4.0 and I am now the proud owner of a collection of 13 ".sql" files.. -> Woohoo! <-

Now can you please tell me a little about how I proceed from here?

I've tried the WebMatrix new umbraco solution, to hook it up to the sql files, and then get the conn.strings from there. Did not work in my short experience.

Would you elaborate a little on your process perhaps?

Many thanks!!

Hi David,

Glad that has worked so far!

From here, I'd open up SQL Server Management Studio (Express) and connect to your SQL 2008 database using the log-in credentials you have - or via WebMatrix if you can connect to the database through that, basically any tool that lets you run a query against the new database. Once connected to SQL Server you can either copy and paste the contents of the first of the 13 .sql files and run that, or open up the sql file (or drag it into the query editor pane - depending on the tool you're using) and run it. Once it has run, do the same with the second .sql file, then the third, all the way to the last one.

Once each of the 13 SQL scripts have been run you should have a fully working database and you just need to update your database connection string in web.config to point to this new database. The connection string may look something like this:

<connectionStrings>
    <remove name="umbracoDbDSN" />
    <add name="umbracoDbDSN" connectionString="server=localhost\SQLExpress;database=nameofdatabase;user id=username;password=password" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
</connectionStrings>

Obviously the server name/ip, username and password will be specific to your set-up.

Hope this helps get you a bit further...

Hello there.

I am truly sorry for the late response!

I would very much like to thank you with your help!

I opened up Microsoft Studio and queried the sql files, and as soon as that was done,

I copied your connectionString snippet, changed it to my settings, and everything worked..

Thank you so much!

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