Unable to administer WSS 3.0 using SQL Studio Express

Question

I have a WSS 3.0 running on Server 2008 R1. The log files have grown to almost 15GB and need to be compressed/purged as we are running out of space on the hard drive. I have connected to the database "\.\pipe\mssql$microsoft##ssee\sql\query" using SQL Studio Express, however I get the following error when right-clicking on the SharePoint_Config database and selecting Properties:

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Property Owner is not available for Database '[SharePoint_Config_29c26fca-17b8-48c1-9704-b869932abcb6]'. This property may not exist for this object, or may not be retrievable due to insufficient access rights. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Express.Smo)

------------------------------ For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&ProdVer=9.00.5000.00&EvtSrc=Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.ExceptionTemplates.PropertyCannotBeRetrievedExceptionText&EvtID=Owner&LinkId=20476

------------------------------ Program Location:

at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.PropertyCollection.HandleNullValue(Int32 index) at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.PropertyCollection.GetValueWithNullReplacement(String propertyName, Boolean throwOnNullValue) at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Database.get_Owner() at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.SqlManagerUI.CreateDatabaseData.DatabasePrototype.DatabaseData..ctor(CDataContainer context, String databaseName) at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.SqlManagerUI.CreateDatabaseData.DatabasePrototype.LoadDefinition(String newName) at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.SqlManagerUI.CreateDatabaseData.DatabasePrototype..ctor(CDataContainer context) at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.SqlManagerUI.DBPropSheet..ctor(CDataContainer context)

I am trying to follow the procedure as explained here: http://luka.manojlovic.net/2008/06/15/reduce-sharepoint-services-30-logldf-files/

Answer 1

I've seen this before on Windows Small Business Server 2008 where the SharePoint_Config database owner was NULL. I don't know how or why it happens, but you can see if it's the case in your situation using sp_helpdb. If you find it is you can use sp_changedbowner to set the owner. On the SharePoint_Config database setting the owner to sa will work fine.

Basically, you'd connect to the database with SSMS and run a query like:

USE [SharePoint_Config_29c26fca-17b8-48c1-9704-b869932abcb6]
GO
EXEC sp_changedbowner ‘sa’
GO

That'll set the owner.