How to Resolve Database Restore Operation-Related Errors

Error: ALTER DATABASE is not permitted while a database is in the Restoring state

Should you encounter an issue whereby a database restore operation has hung or fails to complete, leaving the database inaccessible in a restoring state, you can use the following to recover your database;

RESTORE DATABASE MyDatabase 
WITH RECOVERY

You may encounter the following error;

The database cannot be recovered because the log was not restored.

To resolve this, force the restore using the following to bring the database back online;

RESTORE DATABASE MyDatabase 
FROM DISK = 'MyDatabase.bak' 
WITH REPLACE, RECOVERY --force restore over specified database

In the event that you’ve detached the database and damaged / corrupted / lost the log file, you can also use the following to attach a single data file on its own, which will then recreate the associated log file;

exec sp_attach_single_file_db @dbname='TEST',
@physname='d:dataTEST1_DATA.MDF'

Hope this helps someone out there ?