Moving the database location for Dynamics CRM Outlook Client

When you install the Outlook client for Microsoft Dynamics CRM version 4 it asks you if you want to make it "Offline capable".

If you choose yes it will create a SQL Server Express edition database in the following folder in windows XP.

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Microsoft\MSCRM\Data

If you work for a large company and the IT dept has implemented roaming profiles for your domain login account its is likely that they have set a limit on the disk space that you can store on your desktop and "Application Data" folders. If so I feel your pain, my limit is currently 50MB which is minuscule and when you go over that limit you can no longer logoff until you clear down the space.

When I first sync the outlook client with CRM it creates a database file called MSCRM_MSDE.mdf which is approximately 40MB in the MSCRM\data folder mentioned above.

I first thought there may be some registry entries that I could change to point these files elsewhere but alas no.

If you want to move this file elsewhere then follow these steps:

• Shutdown Outlook
• Open SQL Server Management Studio (if you don't have this there is a free express edition available)
• Connect to the database by using your machine name with \CRM appended to it (i.e. LAPTOP1\CRM)
• Browse to the database name and click "Detach"
• 
• You can then move the files elsewhere anywhere on the file system outside your profile locations i.e. c:\files\outlook crm\
• Then right click the MSCRM_MSDE database and reattach in the new location.

When CRM starts up it will be blissfully unaware of the new location of the database files and you will have all your profile space available again.