Recovering from a Lost SUSDB

Imagine the following scenario:

  • You installed the Windows Internal Database role on Server 2008 64-bit.
  • You installed the WSUS role on the same server and set it to use the Windows Internal Database.
  • One day, you notice WSUS is not giving out updates and you cannot start the WSUS management console.  It tells you that SQL may not be started on the machine.

If your SUSDB has become corrupt, you cannot access WSUS.  Furthermore, you cannot uninstall WSUS.  And, as if matters can’t get even worse, you cannot uninstall the Windows Internal Database since WSUS is dependent on it.  Fortunately, you can resolve this issue by re-creating the SUSDB.  First, log on to your Windows Internal database using SQL Server Management Studio Express 2005 or higher.  If the SUSDB is listed, then delete it.  You will then need to go to the following location to remove the files:

%windir%\windows\sysmsi\ssee\mssql.2005\mssql\data

Delete the SUSDB database and log file.

Next, open up the following SQL file in SQL Server Management Studio Express and execute it to recreate the database:

%windir%\program files\update services\database\createdatabase.sql

This file will create and empty SUSDB database.  Once this is done, you can now remove WSUS from your server and re-install it if you need it back.  I recommend reinstallation as that will put your settings back in place like you had them.  Remember, the SUSDB you just created is empty with no tables in it.

I hope this information helps.  If anyone has a better solution, please add it to the comments section.

JamesNT

5 thoughts on “Recovering from a Lost SUSDB

  1. I removed the WSUS role from a SBS 2008 server, leaving the database intact as it shares the internal database with Sharepoint. Since the role was successfully removed, can I follow these instructions to simply detachthe SUSDB database (currently 25+ GB) and delete it?

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