Wait on the Database Engine recovery handle failed!! SQL Server 2012 installation

Ok, after 6 hours of struggle and ‘googling’ I could finally get this work. The problem was due to some account name conflict. Here are the steps I followed to set it right 1) Un-installed the SQLserver 3) Re-installed it back with following changes In the server configuration section, I changed the account name details … Read more

Use TO_DATE in SQL Server 2012

SQL-Server has no TO_DATE function. You have to use convert. See here — Specify a datetime string and its exact format SELECT TO_DATE(‘2012-06-05’, ‘YYYY-MM-DD’) FROM dual; — Specify a datetime string and style 102 (ANSI format), raises an error if conversion fails SELECT CONVERT(DATETIME, ‘2012-06-05’, 102); — TRY_CONVERT available since SQL Server 2012 (returns NULL … Read more

Enable remote connections for SQL Server Express 2012

Well, glad I asked. The solution I finally discovered was here: How do I configure SQL Server Express to allow remote tcp/ip connections on port 1433? Run SQL Server Configuration Manager. Go to SQL Server Network Configuration > Protocols for SQLEXPRESS. Make sure TCP/IP is enabled. So far, so good, and entirely expected. But then: … Read more