Migrating CRM 2011 Online databases to SQL OnPremise: Database cannot be started in this edition of SQL Server
When Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is installed using a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise edition (CRM Online) , a partition is created for the auditing functionality of Dynamics CRM 2011.
The AuditBase table uses partitioning which is only available for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise. This also holds true for database backups received from Microsoft’s Data Center. This will give an error: Database cannot be started in this edition of SQL Server when trying to restore the database to a Standard Version of SQL Server 2008.
The fix can be complicated without a SQL 2008 Enterprise Server readily available. Instead, use a VM and upgrade that SQL to the Enterprise Edition. Then import the database you received from
the Microsoft Data Center. Next, run the script on the database (from the KB Below) to remove SQL 2008 Enterprise Edition features.
Now, you can copy this database back to your SQL Server 2008 standard edition and restore it for use with on premise CRM.