There can be instances, where an orphaned SharePoint content database has to be removed. It can be a faulty database, which was created during migration, or an un-mounted database, which is no longer used by the Web Application. We will see how to delete directly from SQL Server Management Studio.
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When we right click and delete the database, it will open up the ‘Delete Object’ page. Clicking on 'OK' should ideally delete the database.
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However, in most cases, even after un-mounting, the binding will still be present with the Web Application.
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Lets see, how to delete the database. Right click the database and click on Properties. Select the options page and set the ‘Restrict Access’ property to ‘SINGLE_USER’.
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This will change the database to Single User state.
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Now, if we right click the database and select delete option, the database will be deleted.
Summary - Thus, we saw how to delete a SharePoint Web Application un-mounted content database by setting it to Single User state.