(This is a guest blog post by Daniel Jones (li | t | fb). Daniel is a SQL Server DBA and contributor at SQL Tech Tips. Having 2 + years of experience in SQL recovery and system infrastructure.)
Microsoft SQL Server Backup Error Code 3241 Restore Headeronly
Sometimes, the users of MS SQL server faced an error when they try to restore SQL database from the backup file in the SQL server. This error is known as SQL server error 3241 and it generates the below-mentioned error message.
Due to this error message, the users cannot restore the data from the backup file into SQL Server database. Therefore, in this post, we are going to discuss the reason for the occurrence of error 3241 and the relevant solutions to resolve the error.
Causes Behind the Occurrence Of the SQL Server Backup Error 3241
There are various reasons behind this error message. Some of them are described as below:
- When a user of MS SQL Server tries to restore the data from the backup file that was created on the MS SQL Server 2014 to the SQL Server 2008 then the error message arise. This is the main cause behind the occurrence of this error.
- The SQL error code 3241 may also occur if SQL Backup Agent Service does not have necessary access permission. To restore the database from backup file into the SQL server, the SQL Backup Agent Service should have read permission to access the folder, which contains the backup file.
- There is also a possibility that the backup file, which was used for restoring the SQL database, is corrupted. The backup file can be corrupted if it was loaded using FTP Text Mode.
Solutions To Resolve the MS SQL Error 3241 Restore Headeronly
In this section, we are going to discuss some solution to troubleshoot the backup error 3241. These solutions are described as follows:
- Before starting the process to restore a database from the backup file, we should check the version of SQL server. If the version of SQL server is same as that of the version in which the backup file was created then start the restore process, otherwise upgrade the SQL server database to the same or higher version.
Note: By running the command ‘SELECT @@Version’ in the SQL query window, you can check the version of SQL server.
- There is a need for access permission to restore data from backup file using SQL Backup Agent Service. The user account, which was used to log on the SQL backup Agent service, should be specified while installing SQL server components on the server instance. SQL Backup Agent Service can get a permission to access some specific folder, where a backup file is saved from the sysadmin.
- If the backup file was corrupted because of uploading using FTP text mode, then again restore the backup file using FTP in binary mode. If this method fails to repair the corrupted backup file then you can also take the help of SQL BAK file recovery, a third-party utility to recover backup file.
Note: To avoid the Microsoft SQL Server error code 3241, the version of SQL server should be same as that of SQL server version in which backup file is created. SQL Backup Agent Service should have necessary access permission to restore data from backup file and backup file should be upload using FTP in binary mode.
Conclusion
When the users try to restore the database from the backup file then sometimes they are unable to do that because of SQL server error 3241. There are various reasons behind the occurrence of this error such as older version of SQL server, backup file is uploaded using FTP binary mode, etc. Therefore, in this post, we have described the causes of the error and the possible solutions to fix the backup error code 3241.