Before an existing database can be restored, there should be connections using the database in question. If the database is currently in use the RESTORE command fails with below error:

Msg 3101, Level 16, State 1, Line 2

Exclusive access could not be obtained because the database is in use.

Msg 3013, Level 16, State 1, Line 2

RESTORE DATABASE is terminating abnormally.

To avoid this, we need to kill all sessions using the database. All sessions using the database can be queries using system stored procedure sp_who2 or using sys.dm_exec_sessions DMV:

SELECT   session_id
FROM     sys.dm_exec_sessions
WHERE    DB_NAME(database_id) = 'SqlAndMe'

You need to terminate each of the sessions returned individually by using KILL command.

If there are large number of sessions to kill, or you need to do this on a routine basis it gets boring to do it this way. You can *automate* this using below script, which takes database name as input, and kills all sessions connecting to it.

-- Kill all sessions using a database
-- Vishal - http://SqlAndMe.com
USE [master]
GO
DECLARE @dbName SYSNAME
DECLARE @sqlCmd VARCHAR(MAX)
SET @sqlCmd = ''
SET @dbName = 'SqlAndMe' -- Change database name here
SELECT   @sqlCmd = @sqlCmd + 'KILL ' + CAST(session_id AS VARCHAR) +
         CHAR(13)
FROM     sys.dm_exec_sessions
WHERE    DB_NAME(database_id) = @dbName
PRINT @sqlCmd
--Uncomment below line to kill
--EXEC (@sqlCmd)

Hope This Helps!

Vishal

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Filed under: Catalog Views, Management Views and Functions, SQLServer, SQLServer 2005, SQLServer 2008, SQLServer 2008 R2, SQLServer 2012