SQL error 3415 occurs while attaching a database to an SQL server. It normally happens due to insufficient permission of the user or SQL server version conflicts.

As a part of our Server Management Services, we help our Customers to fix SQL related errors regularly.

Let us today discuss the possible causes and fixes for this error.

What causes SQL error 3415?

Users often face the SQL error 3415  while attaching a database to the SQL server. A typical error message looks like:

Major reasons for this error are:

1. The user does not have sufficient permission to the MSSQL data folder.
2. The database is in read-only mode.
3. Version conflict of SQL Servers.

Let us now look at each of these reasons and their solutions one by one.
 

How to fix the SQL error 3415?

The most common reason for error 3415 is that the user under which the SQL service runs does not have full access permissions to MSSQL data folder. To fix this error, we need to grant proper permission to the user using the steps below:

1. Go to the MSSQL data folder and right-click on it.
2.Select Properties.
3. Go to the Security tab.
*If the "Log On As" user from your service is a user account, make sure that user account has Full Control for the folder.
*If the "Log On As" user from your service is "Network Service" or "Local System" those accounts should already have access.

The database is in read-only mode

While we attach the database to a higher version of SQL Server than the instance the .mdf was originally attached to, it triggers the error. SQL Server tries to upgrade the database as part of the attachment, but it cannot as the database is in read-only mode.

SQL Server does not detect the read-only filegroup before it starts to upgrade the database. After the upgrade has started, SQL Server writes entries to the transaction log. Earlier versions cannot read the new transaction log entries.

To fix the error, we will need to move the database that contains a read-only filegroup to an instance of the new SQL Server version. A detailed procedure to perform this is available here.

Alternate Solutions

If the error message appears even after having proper permissions and the database is not read-only, it could be related to SQL Server Management Studio. Starting the SQL Server Management Studio in Administrator mode may help to fix the error message.

Another alternate fix for this error is to restore a backup of the database from the old instance to the new instance. Since the conflict with the versions in the two servers is a major reason for this error, performing an upgrade of the earlier version of SQL Server to a higher version of SQL Server would also help to fix it.

Further, retrying after changing the locations of MDF and LDF files may also help to fix the issue. Also, we need to make sure that the account jas the required privileges.

 
[Need any further assistance in fixing Cloudflare errors? – We’re available 24*7]
 

Conclusion

In short, SQL error 3415 occurs while attaching a database to an SQL server. It normally happens due to insufficient permission of the user or SQL server version conflicts. Today, we saw how our Support Engineers fix this error.