title: How do I drop a foreign key in SQL Server?
body: <p>I have created a foreign key (in SQL Server) by:</p>
  
  <pre><code>alter table company add CountryID varchar(3);
  alter table company add constraint Company_CountryID_FK foreign key(CountryID) 
  references Country;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I then run this query:</p>
  
  <pre><code>alter table company drop column CountryID;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and I get this error:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p><em>Msg 5074, Level 16, State 4, Line 2<br>
    The object 'Company_CountryID_FK' is dependent on column 'CountryID'.<br>
    Msg 4922, Level 16, State 9, Line 2<br>
    ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN CountryID failed because one or more objects access this column</em></p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I have tried this, yet it does not seem to work:</p>
  
  <pre><code>alter table company drop foreign key Company_CountryID_FK; 
  alter table company drop column CountryID;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What do I need to do to drop the <code>CountryID</code> column?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks.</p>