Open MS SQL Server Backup BAK File in Excel – Easy Ways

Summary: Are you glancing for an approach to open SQL .bak file in Excel that got corrupted? If so, then your questioning will be determined in this blog. Here we will explain the step-by-step method for fixing damaged SQL Server backup files and opening them in Excel. You can solve this problem with a manual approach or with the help of the SQL Recovery Tool. Before illustrating the answer, first, let’s know a few known information about the BAK file. Download Now   Purchase Now

What is a .bak File?

.bak is a file format extension of the backup file. When we make a backup of any data, all data of the backup is stored in a .bak file format. SQL server also offers its users the proficiency to automatically back up their critical data. However, periodically the SQL .bak file format may be crooked, impaired, and inaccessible, and there can be various explanations for backup file corruption. Also, in the below section, we are going to provide the complete solution to solve issues with corrupted SQL backup files and how can users open the SQL .bak files in an Excel spreadsheet.

Is there any way to Open SQL .bak File in Excel?

The answer to the above question is NO because there is no way to Open MS SQL Server Backup BAK File in Excel and restore a corrupted SQL .bak file in Excel. However, you can rectify the corrupt SQL backup file and migrate it into your SQL Server database using the Aryson SQL Database Recovery tool. This software helps repair MDF Files in SQL Server and import it directly into your SQL Server database. The software assists you in rectifying the full database backup issues in just a few clicks without having any technical knowledge.

How can I Open BAK file in Excel?

Let us understand each manual method to open SQL .bak file in Excel one by one in steps, and descriptions so that we have an end decision of the most helpful way out of the three.

Before you begin, discover the directory of .bak file on your SQL Server system. Here is the default directory where SQL Server keeps the .bak file:

• Program Files > Microsoft SQL Server > MSSQL 1.0 > MSSQL > BACKUP
• C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Backup

Method 1: Manually Convert SQL .bak to Excel

1. Locate and find the SQL .bak file on your system or Windows PC.
2. Save the .bak file to another system.
3. Uncheck “Hide Extensions for Known File Types”.
4. Open the system with copied SQL database backup .bak file
5. Select the “Rename” option to change the extension to .xls or .xlsx
6. In the end, after the rename open the file in Excel

Method 2: Restore SQL Database then Convert SQL to XLS

In this section, we will explore the method to restore your corrupt SQL database and then convert it into Excel file format.

Step 1: Restore .bak file format to SQL Server

Here are the detailed guidelines:

1. Open SSMS, and save the location where you want to fix the .bak file format.
2. Choose the .bak file saved on your system.
3. Opt “Add” to specify the exact location
4. Check “Full Database Backup” & “Transaction Log Backup”

Step 2: SQL Database to Excel

Be attentive to the downward manual actions to export the SQL database:

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio & log in with your credentials
2. Choose the SQL Server Import and Export
3. Choose a data source from which you like to copy data
4. Choose the database that you’ve restored from the .bak file.
5. Choose a destination to copy database data to Excel
6. Select “Copy data from one or more tables or views”
7. Click “Finish” on the Complete Wizard.

Why manual solutions are not recommended?

We do not endorse or recommend the above-explained manual ways to open and view MS SQL BAK files due to the associated limitations with each one of them.

• Need to join the SQL Server for executing the restore of the SQL BAK file whether via script or the Restore feature on the SSMS
• Requirement of good technical expertise in running scripts or queries on the SQL Server Management Studio
• Need administrator rights to run the SQL Server Management Studio.
• High chances of database corruption when modification of SQL BAK file to Excel file extension (.xls, .xlsx) is performed

Looking for the best tool? Here is the apt result

The advanced SQL Server Recovery tool offers the complete and smart recovery of the corrupted SQL database and open SQL .bak file in Excel. SQL BAK file even without the need to connect to the SQL Server. Let users repair corrupted database files, to open and preview their content before saving it to the specified location. Users even have the option to have a demo test or learn the software characteristics via the free trial or demo version of the tool.

1. Download and Run SQL Server Database Recovery.
2. Click Open to browse the MDF file
3. Select the folders that you want to restore.
4. Choose the SQL Server Database
5. Test the database connection and click Ok.

Conclusion

Eventually, to open SQL .bak file in Excel, users might encounter complications as it is quite a challenging task. The explanation is that there’s no scenario for fixing it. To overwhelm this trouble, we have proposed the best-advanced tool that successfully solves damaged SQL .bak file problems and imports it directly into SQL Server. The tool has a free trial version, so you can review the efficiency and working approach.

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