[thelist] MSSQL 2005 .bak file - extract data?

[Chris Anderson]

rogerharness at comcast.net wrote:
> I realize I'm a little over my head with this, but does anyone have any suggestions on how I can extract data from an SQL 2005 .BAK file, for export into Excel/Access, in a relatively simple manner?
>  

.BAK files are binary backup files, so I doubt you can read them directly without a lot of effort.
I would suggest first restoring the files into a new local SQL Server 2005 database.
>From there you will have normal SQL access to the data 
 
Chris