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default-trace-enabled-server-configuration-option.md

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title Server Configuration: default trace enabled
description Learn about the default trace enabled option. Find out how default tracing can help with troubleshooting.
author rwestMSFT
ms.author randolphwest
ms.date 08/26/2025
ms.service sql
ms.subservice configuration
ms.topic how-to
helpviewer_keywords
logs [SQL Server], traces
traces [SQL Server], logs
default trace enabled option

Server configuration: default trace enabled

[!INCLUDE SQL Server]

Use the default trace enabled option to enable or disable the default trace log files. The default trace functionality provides a rich, persistent log of activity and changes primarily related to the configuration options.

Warning

[!INCLUDE ssNoteDepFutureAvoid] Use Extended Events instead.

Purpose

Default trace provides troubleshooting assistance to database administrators by ensuring that they have the log data necessary to diagnose problems the first time they occur.

View default trace

The default trace logs can be opened and examined by [!INCLUDE ssSqlProfiler] or queried with [!INCLUDE tsql] by using the fn_trace_gettable system function. [!INCLUDE ssSqlProfiler] can open the default trace log files just as it does normal trace output files. The default trace log is stored by default in the \MSSQL\LOG directory using a rollover trace file. The base file name for the default trace log file is log.trc. In a typical installation of [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion], the default trace is enabled and thus becomes TraceID 1. If enabled after installation and after creating other traces, the TraceID can become a larger number.

For more information about using [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] Profiler to view this trace file, see Open a trace file (SQL Server Profiler)

Example

The following statement opens the default trace log, in the default location:

SELECT *
FROM fn_trace_gettable (
    'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL13.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\LOG\log.trc',
    default
);
GO

Configure

When set to 1, the default trace enabled option enables Default Trace. The default setting for this option is 1 (enabled). A value of 0 turns off the trace.

The default trace enabled option is an advanced option. If you're using the sp_configure system stored procedure to change the setting, you can change the default trace enabled option only when show advanced options is set to 1. The setting takes effect immediately without a server restart.

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