Error message when you shrink the transaction log file of a database in SQL Server: "Cannot shrink log file ..."

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SYMPTOMS

When you run a DBCC SHRINKFILE command in SQL Query Analyzer to shrink the specified transaction log file of a database, the transaction log file does not shrink, and you may receive the following error message:

Cannot shrink log file <transaction log file ID> (<transaction log file name>) because total number of virtual log files cannot be fewer than 2.

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MORE INFORMATION

When a transaction log file has two virtual log files, you cannot shrink the transaction log file by using the DBCC SHRINKFILE command.

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REFERENCES

For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

272318 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/272318/ ) Shrinking the transaction log in SQL Server 2000 with DBCC SHRINKFILE

324432 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324432/ ) DBCC SHRINKFILE and SHRINKDATABASE commands may not work because of sparsely populated text, ntext, or image columns

80629 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/80629/ ) Transaction log partially truncated

317375 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317375/ ) Transaction log grows unexpectedly or becomes full on SQL Server

For more information, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:
Shrinking the Transaction Log (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa174524(SQL.80).aspx)

DBCC SHRINKFILE (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa258824(SQL.80).aspx)

Attaching and Detaching a Database (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa933085(SQL.80).aspx)

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