I need help with converting a database backup. I have a MSSQL .bak backup file that I downloaded from a server and I want to move this data into a MySQL database. I tried several methods but nothing worked so far.
Here’s what I already attempted:
Set up MSSQL on my Windows 11 machine and restored the .bak file successfully.
Downloaded MySQL ODBC driver for .net, but when I tried using the export wizard in Management Studio, the export button was disabled.
Used an online conversion service, but it couldn’t process the backup file.
Does anyone know a working solution for this? Maybe there are better online converters or different approaches I should try? Any suggestions would be helpful.
The export wizard button being disabled usually means your ODBC connection isn’t set up right. After you install the MySQL ODBC driver, create a DSN connection through Windows ODBC Data Source Administrator. Make sure you’re using the version that matches your system (32-bit vs 64-bit) and test the connection before trying to export. You could also export to CSV files using SQL Server’s bulk export, then import those into MySQL. This gives you better control over data types and handles encoding problems way better than direct conversion tools. I’ve found this two-step method works much better, especially with complex schemas or big datasets.
honestly just use mysqldump workbench’s migration wizard - way easier than messing with odbc stuff. connect to both databases and it handles the schema conversion automatically. saved me hours compared to manual csv exports
Since you’ve got the .bak file restored in SQL Server, try SSIS if you have access to it. Set up a data flow task with your restored SQL Server database as source and MySQL as destination. SSIS handles data type mappings automatically and lets you control transformation rules. Another option is PowerShell with SqlServer and MySQL modules - you can script the whole migration table by table. I’ve had direct export wizards fail on me too, but scripted solutions work way better for cross-platform migrations. Just make sure you handle data type differences properly, especially datetime and text fields since they behave differently between the two systems.
A .bak file is a native SQL Server backup, so you can’t import it directly into MySQL. The correct process is to first restore the .bak in SQL Server, which you’ve already done, and then export the data in a format MySQL can read. The most common ways are using the SQL Server Import/Export Wizard (right-click database → Tasks → Export Data and select the MySQL ODBC driver as the target), generating scripts with both schema and data and then adjusting them for MySQL syntax before importing, or using Microsoft’s free SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) for MySQL, which is usually the smoothest option since it handles datatype conversion automatically. For large datasets, another approach is exporting tables as CSVs and then loading them into MySQL with LOAD DATA INFILE. In short, there’s no direct .bak to MySQL converter — you always need SQL Server as the middle step to export the data.