When running SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Advisor (10.0.1600.22) against a SQL 2000 instance, the following Description is displayed in the report viewer when attempting to analyze SQL batch files:
Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
If I expand each entry in the report viewer, a one-word description is output as shown below but no details regarding the issue or the name of the object or script that contained the issue. Here's the "Issues" section of the XML document produced by the Upgrade Advisor:
<Issues>
<Issue>
<IssueId>1</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreOrPostUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Upgrading will cause Full-Text Search to use instance-level, not global, word breakers and filters by default</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>SQL Server provides a way to allow instance-level registration of new word breakers and filters. </IssueText>
<Help>93ee8fcb-d11c-49fa-8fac-51ed31a8f008</Help>
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>2</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>INFOSCHEMATA</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>3</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>QRYGOVCOSTLIMIT</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>4</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>TRACEFLAGS</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>5</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>LCIDPROPERTY</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>6</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Large backup or restore history tables make upgrade appear to hang</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>Upgrade adds columns to the following backup and restore history tables: backupfile, backupmediafamily, backupmediaset, backupset, restorefile, restorefilegroup, and restorehistory. If a server instance has a very large number of rows in any of these tables, when upgrade runs ALTER TABLE statements on that table, the upgrade will stall and can appear to hang.</IssueText>
<Help>f88d86ec-324b-4518-b6d7-1af7e7265812</Help>
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>7</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>BACKUPRESTORETRANSACTION</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>8</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>DBCCCONCURRENCYVIOLATION</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>9</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>DEPRECATEDSP</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>10</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>OLDDBCC</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>11</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>ORDERBYALIAS</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>12</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>CREATESTATSWITHROWS</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>13</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>SYSLOCKINFO</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>14</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>FORXMLAUTO</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>15</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>OPENXMLWITH</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>16</IssueId>
<IssueType>Advisory</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Other Database Engine upgrade issues</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>Several upgrade issues cannot be detected by Upgrade Advisor. To view undetectable issues, click "Tell me more about this issue and how to resolve it."</IssueText>
<Help>78a1d8e8-fa97-476f-8777-84617d145340</Help>
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>17</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>DBCOMPTLEVEL</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>18</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>BACKUPLOG</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>19</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>COLONUSE</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>20</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>LARGECONSTTYPE</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>21</IssueId>
<IssueType>Advisory</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Specify your SQL Server service account user name and password</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>To upgrade and run the Microsoft Full-Text Engine for SQL Server 2008 you must enter an account name and password that is associated with a specific security group, a security feature that is new to SQL Server 2008. </IssueText>
<Help>93a7fb04-2d36-433f-8b9a-5a15c544f55a</Help>
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>22</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>HOSTIDRETURN</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>23</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>FTPROPS</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>24</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>OSQLSYSEXEC</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>25</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>DUMPLOAD</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>26</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>ORDERBYORDINALS</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>27</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>DROPSYSOBJ</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>28</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Full-Text Search has changed in SQL Server 2008</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>Upgrade Advisor determined that Full-text search is currently installed.</IssueText>
<Help>d253bb05-9166-4b50-bd4a-27b818f514e0</Help>
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>29</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>OLDSYSTEMTABLES</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>30</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>FTCATALOGNAMERESTRICTION</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>31</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>UPDATETEXT</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>32</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>SPHELPTRIGGERNEWCOL</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>33</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>DISKINIT</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>34</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>WITHHINTS</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>35</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>XPAGENTPROXY</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>36</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>SPCONFIGURE</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>37</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>INVALIDCHAR</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>38</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>NONANSIOUTER</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>39</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>MERGE</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>40</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>FTCATPROPITEMCOUNT</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
<Issue>
<IssueId>41</IssueId>
<IssueType>PreUpgrade</IssueType>
<IssueDescription>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</IssueDescription>
<IssueText>SYSPERFINFO</IssueText>
<Help />
</Issue>
</Issues>