When an application uses ADO,OLE DB or ODBC to interact with SQL Server , the  preparation and execution model uses sp_prepare and sp_execute to prepare statements.  If you attempt to execute just the sp_execute part in Query Analyzer - the message Msg 8179 Could not find prepared statement with handle  appears

 The sp_prepare portion parses and compiles the statement execution plan. The sp_execute portion executes the Execution Plan.

A typical example extracted from a SQL Server Profiler Trace is :

exec sp_prepare @p1 output,N'@P0 int,@P1 nvarchar(4000),@P2 datetime,@P3 datetime,@P4 datetime,@P5 datetime,@P6 datetime,@P7 datetime',N'SELECT * FROM BOOKINGS WITH (NOLOCK) WHERE TableNo= @P0  AND STATUS =  @P1   AND ( (EndTimeDT <=  @P2  AND EndTimeDT >  @P3 ) OR (StartTimeDT >=  @P4  AND StartTimeDT <  @P5 )  OR (StartTimeDT <=  @P6  AND EndTimeDT >  @P7 ) )',1
select @p1
exec sp_execute @p1,19,N'A','2013-03-21 16:30:00','2013-03-21 16:00:00','2014-03-20 16:00:00','2014-03-20 16:30:00','2012-03-22 16:00:00','2012-03-22 16:30:00'
go

If you extract the sp_execute portion , and attempt to run in Query Analyzer , an error message appears  Msg 8179 Could not find prepared statement with handle.    Avoid this message by including the related sp_prepare portion of the trace

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