Let's not add insult to injury by whacking stuff that is still good. If your master database is all that's broken STOP NOW and make copies of your msdb and model database files! Some of the instructions below will overwrite them destructively. Don't get out your resume just yet, we can get your instance back up and running, but there will be a lot of work to do after that to return to some semblance of what it once was.

Last, your master database is kaput and you have no backup to use for recovery.

Second, your master database is gone or unusable, but you have a backup from which to restore - thank your lucky stars.

'time travel' to get back to a known state.

First, you have a master database that is viable and you have a backup, all you want to do is a little.

You may be restoring to a brand new server or creating a clone of your instance. Your master database may have been damaged due to hardware or software failure and rendered unusable.

This may be the easiest scenario because you still have a master database to start from.

Linked server or some other system object. You may have removed something critical and you want it back- a There are several reasons you may need to recover your master database.

Rebuild master database in sql server