title: SQL Server 2005 Transaction Log will not Truncate
body: <p>I have a database <code>.mdf</code> file that is 138 GB along with a transaction log file of 55 GB.  </p>
  
  <p>The recovery model was set to <em>Full</em> (which it doesn't need to be). I ran a full backup of the database and the transaction log. The transaction log is still 55 GB with no free space to shrink the file.  </p>
  
  <p>I ran that backup through SQL Server Management Studio GUI. I then ran the following commands to try to force the trans log to shrink:</p>
  
  <pre><code>BACKUP LOG database WITH TRUNCATE_ONLY
  DBCC SHRINKFILE (logfile, TRUNCATEONLY )
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The log file is still 55 GB. I then changed the recovery model to <code>Simple</code> and let it sit a few days, but it's still at 55 GB. I tried those 2 commands above again but it still doesn't truncate anything.</p>
  
  <p>No matter what I try, this log file won't shrink. Since we don't need the transaction log at all, I even tried detaching the database, renaming the log file and reattaching.  That doesn't work either as there are actually 2 transaction logs, and I get an error when trying to reattach without the logs. The other log file is only 1 MB, and I've tried to remove that as well, but get also get an error saying it's not empty.</p>
  
  <p>Is there something I'm missing, or something else I can try?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks for any help!</p>