SQL Server Error 2812

Error number

2812

Severity

16 (user-correctable error)

State

62

Product

Microsoft SQL Server Database Engine

Versions

All supported SQL Server versions (2016 to 2025), Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance

Category

Syntax & Object Resolution

Last reviewed

23 October 2026

What it means

Error 2812 means EXEC named a stored procedure that SQL Server cannot find under that name, in that schema, in the current (or named) database.

When a batch runs EXEC name, SQL Server resolves the name at execution time: in the database named in the call or, if none, the current database; in the schema named in the call or, if none, the caller's default schema and then dbo. If nothing matches, the statement fails with 2812 at severity 16. The text in quotes is exactly the name the engine tried to resolve, which is often the quickest clue: a typo, a missing schema, or something that is not a procedure name at all.

That last case is common with dynamic SQL: EXEC @sql without parentheses treats the contents of @sql as a procedure name, so the message quotes your whole SELECT statement. EXEC (@sql) or sp_executesql runs it as a batch instead. If the procedure exists but you are not allowed to run it, SQL Server raises error 229 rather than 2812.

Common causes

• A typo in the procedure name, or a procedure that was renamed or never deployed to this environment.
• The connection is in a different database from the one that holds the procedure (for example master after login).
• The procedure is in a schema other than dbo or the caller's default schema, and the call omits the schema.
• EXEC @sql without parentheses, which treats the dynamic SQL string as a procedure name.
• A procedure name copied from another product or version (for example an undocumented system procedure that does not exist here).

Diagnose it

Read-only These queries only read metadata and dynamic management views. They do not change data, permissions or configuration, so they are safe to run first.

SELECT DB_NAME() AS current_database, SCHEMA_NAME() AS default_schema;

SELECT SCHEMA_NAME(p.schema_id) AS schema_name, p.name, p.create_date, p.modify_date
FROM sys.procedures AS p
WHERE p.name LIKE N'%GetCustomer%'
ORDER BY p.name;

SELECT d.name AS database_name
FROM sys.databases AS d
WHERE OBJECT_ID(QUOTENAME(d.name) + N'.dbo.usp_GetCustomer', N'P') IS NOT NULL;

How to fix it

Each fix is labelled with what it changes. Try read-only checks and the least invasive fix first, and test changes outside production.

CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE dbo.usp_GetCustomer
    @id INT
AS
SELECT id, name FROM dbo.Customers WHERE id = @id;

Examples

A typo in the procedure name

CREATE TABLE dbo.Customers (id INT PRIMARY KEY);
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.usp_GetCustomer @id INT AS SELECT id FROM dbo.Customers WHERE id = @id;
GO
EXEC dbo.usp_GetCustomr @id = 1;  -- Customer is misspelled

Msg 2812, Level 16, State 62, Line 1
Could not find stored procedure 'dbo.usp_GetCustomr'.

A procedure in another schema called without the schema

CREATE SCHEMA Billing;
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE Billing.usp_GetInvoice @id INT AS SELECT @id AS id;
GO
EXEC usp_GetInvoice @id = 1;  -- resolves in dbo, not Billing

Msg 2812, Level 16, State 62, Line 1
Could not find stored procedure 'usp_GetInvoice'.

EXEC @sql without parentheses

DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(MAX) = N'SELECT name FROM sys.objects';
EXEC @sql;  -- treated as a procedure name

Msg 2812, Level 16, State 62, Line 2
Could not find stored procedure 'SELECT name FROM sys.objects'.

How to prevent it

Schema-qualify every procedure call (EXEC dbo.usp_Name), set the database in the connection string rather than relying on the login's default database, and deploy procedures from source control so every environment has the same set.

For dynamic SQL, use sp_executesql with parameters as the standard pattern, so a string is never mistaken for a procedure name. The stored procedures and functions lesson covers creating and calling procedures.

Common questions

Learn more on CodeWithSQL

• Stored procedures and functions lesson
• Advanced stored procedures lesson
• Stored procedures interview questions

Official documentation

• EXECUTE (Transact-SQL)
• sys.procedures (Transact-SQL)
• Database engine events and errors (2000 to 2999)

Last technically reviewed 23 October 2026; examples and diagnostics run on SQL Server 2025 (17.0.1145.4). Message text checked against the engine's sys.messages catalogue.