Restore from SQL Server 2008 R2 to SQL Server 2014 fails I have a SQL Server database backup of SQL Server 2008 R2. I want to restore that backup file that is around 40 GB on to a Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Express Edition (64-bit) and it runs till 95% and then gives me this error:


  CREATE DATABASE or ALTER DATABASE failed because the resulting
  cumulative database size would exceed your licensed limit of 10240 MB
  per database
You will not be able to restore a database from Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (paid version) to Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Express (Free version) due to its database file limit.

For others who need reference

SQL Server Express versions have a hard size limit on the database size.

I have listed them below from 2000-2008_r2


MSDE "SQL Server 2000" 2gig free limit
SQL Server 2005 4Gig free limit
SQL Server 2008 4gig free limit.
SQL Server 2008 R2 and newer: 10gig free limit.


Please upgrade to SQL Server 2014 (Paid version) to resolve this issue.