How to rebuild the master database on a virtual SQL Server instance

This article describes the steps that you must perform to rebuild a master database on a Virtual (Clustered) SQL Server instance.

How to Rebuild the Master Database on a Virtual (Clustered) SQL Server 2000 Server

To rebuild the master SQL Server 2000 database, perform the following steps:

1. Make sure that the SQL Server resources are being controlled by the node in which you execute Rebuildm.exe.
2. Bring the SQL Server virtual server offline by using the SQL Server Service Manager.
3. Make sure that the original shared installation files or the SQL Server installation CD is available.
   
   If you use the SQL Server installation CD, copy all the files from the CD to a local hard drive. Remove the read-only attribute from the files after you copy them to the hard drive. For more information, refer to the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   273572  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/273572/EN-US/ ) BUG: Rebuildm.exe Utility Stops Responding When Source Directory is on a CD
4. Execute Rebuildm.exe and point it to:
   • The original shared installation files.
     
     -or-
   • The files that you copied from the CD to the local hard drive.
5. Select Windows Collation, or SQL Collation.
6. After the Rebuildm.exe program completes, verify that you can bring the resources online and that they successfully fail over.
7. Execute the sp_helpsort stored procedure to verify the collation.

NOTE: The preceding steps do not include the steps that are necessary to rebuild user databases. If you have a recent backup of the master database, you may restore it at this point. If not, you must restore or attach the user databases.

You must start SQL Server from a command prompt on the active node to connect and restore.

Note In SQL Server 2005, the Rebuildm.exe file has been discontinued. To rebuild the master database, use the Setup.exe file.

SQL Server 2000 Books Online; topic: "Rebuilding Master Database"