SQL Server Error 4214

Error number

4214

Severity

16 (user-correctable error)

State

1

Product

Microsoft SQL Server Database Engine

Versions

All supported SQL Server versions (2016 to 2025), Azure SQL Managed Instance (where you can take log backups yourself)

Category

Backup & Restore

Last reviewed

23 October 2026

What it means

Error 4214 means SQL Server refused a transaction log backup because the database has no full (or differential) backup that starts its log chain, so the log backup could never be restored.

A log backup is only useful on top of a full backup: during a restore, SQL Server restores the full backup and then applies each log backup in order. When a database uses the FULL or BULK_LOGGED recovery model but nothing has started a log chain yet, SQL Server stops the BACKUP LOG with 4214 rather than write a backup you could never restore. The statement then ends with Msg 3013 ... BACKUP LOG is terminating abnormally.

"No current database backup" does not always mean the database was never backed up. Switching the recovery model to SIMPLE and back to FULL breaks the chain, and the database behaves as if it had no full backup until you take a new one. Until then the log is truncated at checkpoints, much as in SIMPLE recovery, which is why last_log_backup_lsn in sys.database_recovery_status is NULL.

Common causes

• A new database, or one just switched to FULL recovery, has never had a full backup, and a log backup job ran first.
• The recovery model was switched to SIMPLE (for example to shrink the log) and back to FULL, which broke the log chain.
• A database was restored WITH RECOVERY from a backup on another server or attached from files, and no full backup has been taken on this server since.
• A maintenance plan or job schedules log backups for every database in FULL recovery, including ones that the full backup job skips.

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 d.name, d.recovery_model_desc, rs.last_log_backup_lsn
FROM sys.databases AS d
JOIN sys.database_recovery_status AS rs ON rs.database_id = d.database_id
WHERE d.name = N'AppDb';

SELECT TOP (5) type, backup_start_date, backup_finish_date, is_copy_only, recovery_model
FROM msdb.dbo.backupset
WHERE database_name = N'AppDb'
ORDER BY backup_finish_date DESC;

EXEC sp_readerrorlog 0, 1, N'recovery';

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.

BACKUP DATABASE AppDb
TO DISK = N'D:\Backups\AppDb_full_20261023.bak'
WITH CHECKSUM;

BACKUP LOG AppDb
TO DISK = N'D:\Backups\AppDb_log_20261023_1400.trn'
WITH CHECKSUM;

ALTER DATABASE AppDb SET RECOVERY SIMPLE;

Examples

Log backup before any full backup

-- Throwaway database in FULL recovery that has never had a full backup
ALTER DATABASE AppDb SET RECOVERY FULL;
BACKUP LOG AppDb TO DISK = 'NUL';   -- NUL discards the output; the error comes first

Msg 4214, Level 16, State 1, Line 3
BACKUP LOG cannot be performed because there is no current database backup.
Msg 3013, Level 16, State 1, Line 3
BACKUP LOG is terminating abnormally.

Switching to SIMPLE and back breaks the chain

ALTER DATABASE AppDb SET RECOVERY FULL;
BACKUP DATABASE AppDb TO DISK = 'NUL';   -- lab only: a full backup starts the chain
BACKUP LOG AppDb TO DISK = 'NUL';        -- works

ALTER DATABASE AppDb SET RECOVERY SIMPLE;   -- for example, to shrink the log
ALTER DATABASE AppDb SET RECOVERY FULL;
BACKUP LOG AppDb TO DISK = 'NUL';        -- fails: the chain is broken

Msg 4214, Level 16, State 1, Line 7
BACKUP LOG cannot be performed because there is no current database backup.
Msg 3013, Level 16, State 1, Line 7
BACKUP LOG is terminating abnormally.

How to prevent it

Take a full backup as part of creating a database, and again straight after any change of recovery model back to FULL or BULK_LOGGED. Make the log backup job check last_log_backup_lsn (or let your backup tool do it) so a missing full backup is reported as such instead of failing every few minutes.

Avoid switching to SIMPLE to manage log size; schedule log backups often enough instead. If the log is filling up, see error 9002 for the safe ways to free it.

Common questions

Learn more on CodeWithSQL

• SQL transactions and ACID explained

Official documentation

• MSSQLSERVER_4214 (Microsoft Learn)
• Back up a transaction log
• Recovery models (SQL Server)

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.