

Next, on the Folders page, go the Advanced Setting section and clear the checkbox saying “ Hide Extension for Known File Type”. Go to the Windows Explorer on the system and follow View>Options. First of all, administrators or users should check for this.Note: It is recommended to copy the MS SQL BAK file and save it to an external source location or external drive for the security purpose in case the conversion to excel file leads to the corruption of the file. Here are the procedural steps for this method. Here, we are converting the SQL BAK file to the excel file format to view its data or information like records, tables, etc. This is a way to open and view SQL BAK file without the Microsoft SQL Server.

Method ‘B’ – Convert SQL BAK file to Excel format Once the file is restored on the SQL Server, it would be convenient for the administrator to open and views its content there.Next, run this query to restore the SQL BAK file directly to the server.Click on the New Query option to start or write a new query.Run the SQL Server Management Studio on your system and connect to the database engine.SQL administrators need to follow the below-given instructions to perform this method. The concept of this method is based on running a specific query to restore the SQL BAK file on the server and then view its content. Let us understand each manual method to open SQL BAK file one-by-one in steps, descriptions, so that we have an end decision of the most helpful way out of the three. Here, in this blog, we will get to understand those free manual methods which can be adopted by the administrator to open and view MS SQL BAK file. While some administrators get this SQL BAK file from other resources and some have it already as they have a regular database backup planning.ĭue to situations like database corruption, or need to check into the BAK file, this file needs to be opened and viewed by the SQL Server administrator. This backup file can be accessed on the server only unless exported or converted to the excel file format. C:\Program Files > Microsoft SQL Server > MSSQL 1.0 > MSSQL > BACKUPĬ:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Backup
