Question : How do I fully clear and rebuild a full-text search catalog in SQL 2005 Express

Hello,

I recently moved a database from SQL 2000 to SQL 2005 Express Advanced, and have been unable to get full-text search working on this database.

When I run exec sp_help_fulltext_catalogs on the database, the path for the returned catalogs is set to "FullTextCatalogDefaultPath\JobCatalog".  I'm unable to figure out what that default path was and how to change it, as it appears you cannot change system tables in 2005.

What I'd like to do is clear out any full-text catalogs and completely rebuild them, and I need to specify the location of the new FT catalog so it goes to the correct drive letter.  When I disable FT on this database and re-enable it, the path above is still there.

Thanks.

Answer : How do I fully clear and rebuild a full-text search catalog in SQL 2005 Express

What you need to do in this case is find what tables are using the full text index:

In the database that uses the full text catalog run:

SELECT name, ftcatid FROM sysobjects WHERE ftcatid > 0

That will give you a list of the tables which use it, then you can mark each table not to use full text:

EXEC sp_fulltext_table 'tbl_whichtable', 'drop'

Then eventually again try:

DROP FULLTEXT CATALOG catalog_name

http://www.aspdeveloper.net/tiki-index.php?page=SqlTipsFullTextError