DROP COLUMN MASTER KEY (Transact-SQL)

**APPLIES TO:** ![yes](media/yes.png)SQL Server (starting with 2016) ![yes](media/yes.png)Azure SQL Database ![no](media/no.png)Azure SQL Data Warehouse ![no](media/no.png)Parallel Data Warehouse

Drops a column master key from a database. This is a metadata operation.

Topic link icon Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax

  
DROP COLUMN MASTER KEY key_name;  

Arguments

key_name
The name of the column master key.

Remarks

The column master key can only be dropped if there are no column encryption key values encrypted with the column master key. To drop column encryption key values, use the DROP COLUMN ENCRYPTION KEY statement.

Permissions

Requires ALTER ANY COLUMN MASTER KEY permission on the database.

Examples

A. Dropping a column master key

The following example drops a column master key called MyCMK.

DROP COLUMN MASTER KEY MyCMK;  
GO  

See Also

CREATE COLUMN MASTER KEY (Transact-SQL)
CREATE COLUMN ENCRYPTION KEY (Transact-SQL)
DROP COLUMN ENCRYPTION KEY (Transact-SQL)
Always Encrypted (Database Engine)
sys.column_master_keys (Transact-SQL)