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I have a problem when attaching the file AdverntureWorksLT2008R2_Data.mdf to Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

The database 'AdventureWorksLT2008R2' cannot be opened because it is version 661. This server supports version 655 and earlier. A downgrade path is not supported. Could not open new database 'AdventureWorksLT2008R2'. CREATE DATABASE is aborted. )Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 948)

So, I was wondering if it is possible to do something on the .mdf file so that the .mdf file will be downgrade to version 655 or earlier.

There is a similar question(s) such as this - Attaching database to the SQL server

The correct answer mention about getting to know more about the version and one suggest that latest Service Pack must be installed.

I have checked the version and notice that the latest Service Pack have been installed.

So, I was thinking of downgrade the mdf file but how do I downgrade it?

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You could always download the correct version of the AdventureWorks sample database from Codeplex. – Mark Storey-Smith Jan 4 at 15:19

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Simple answer: you cannot do that.

There's no tool, no undocumented way, no hack, no workaround to achieve this. SQL Server database files just aren't "backwards" compatible - you can easily go from 2005 to 2008, or from 2008 to 2012 - but you cannot go backwards.

You'll need to find another way to do this, e.g. by scripting out database structure and/or data into .sql files and running those on the old system.

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From my understanding, we can save a older version of Microsoft Word document even if we are using a latest Microsoft Office version. So, microsoft do not allow user to save the mdf file to a older version - there is simply lack of flexibility. – Jack Jan 4 at 6:09
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@Jack: SQL Server isn't Word .... the complexity of the file format for those two is probably - quite a bit different .... – marc_s Jan 4 at 6:11
So, I have no choice but to discard the mdf file since I can't even use it. – Jack Jan 4 at 6:13
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While MS-Word can do this (save into an older format), it warns that some functionality may be lost. As @marc points, the database files formats are quite more complex than Word formats. – ypercube Jan 4 at 8:13
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If you're scripting database into SQL, note that not all objects can be migrated - sequences and queues, and also dependencies not recognized by SQL Server (e.g. if there are any dependencies to databases on linked servers) – Carol Baker West Jan 4 at 8:21
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