Error message when you try to restore a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site collection by using a different name: "No content databases are available for this operation"

You back up a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site collection. When you try to restore this site collection by using a different name, you receive the following error message:

This issue occurs because the Windows SharePoint Services site collection that you are trying to restore contains GUID information that already exists in the content database.

To resolve this issue, use either of the following methods.

Method 1: Use the Stsadm.exe command-line tool to restore the site collection after you create a new content database

1. Use an account that has administrative permissions to log on to the computer that is running Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
2. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.
3. On the Central Administration page, click Application Management.
4. On the Application Management page, click Content databases.
5. On the Manage Content Databases page, click Add a content database.
6. Next to Web Application, click the Web application in which you want to add an existing content database. Configure the remaining options as appropriate, and then click OK.
7. Use the Stsadm.exe command-line tool to restore the Windows SharePoint Services site. To do this, type the following command at a command prompt:
   stsadm.exe -o restore -url url -filename filename
   Note Stsadm.exe is located in the following folder:
   Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web server extensions\12\BIN

Method 2: Use the Stsadm.exe command-line tool together with the -overwrite parameter to restore the site collection

You can use the Stsadm.exe command-line tool to restore the site collection and to overwrite the GUID information in the content database. To do this, type the following command at a command prompt:

For more information about parameters that you can use together with Stsadm.exe, type the following command at a command prompt: For more information about operations that you can perform by using Stsadm.exe, type the following command at a command prompt: In this command, operation is the operation that you want to query.