How on earth do you reset the sa password? I know how to go into the dialogs and reset a password. That's now what I'm asking about. It runs a little deeper than just click, click, new password, done!
I have no idea what the SA password is. Nor does the previous user of this machine. The previous user says he never had SQL Express ever running on this machine.
This journey started when I tried to create a new database and was told I didn't have permissions to do so. Okay, I decided to just give myself the appropriate permissions. Nope, I can't give myself nor anyone else permissions.
I tried changing the password using SSMS. I get a message saying I don't have permissions to change it.
I tried using the following SQL script. Again, no permissions.
GO
ALTER LOGIN [sa] WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE=[master]
GO
USE [master]
GO
ALTER LOGIN [sa] WITH PASSWORD=N'NewPassword' MUST_CHANGE
GO
The database is SQL Server 2008 Express (10.0.2531.0).
SQL Server Management Studio is SSMS 2008.
OS is Windows 7 Enterprise
I'm a local admin, and a domain user. I created a local admin account for logging into SSMS
Machine is on a domain.
I have no problems connecting to our network database servers.
Any suggestions? This could be a simple fix. Thanks...
This should help: start SQL Server in single-user mode. This will allow local administrators to connect as a sysadmin fixed server role. A detailed description of how to do this can be found here.
people also can try to change password this way by the below SP
EXEC sp_password NULL, 'yourpassword', 'sa'
hope may help other. thanks
You could use: Reset-DbaAdmin Powershell cmdlet from https://dbatools.io.
This function allows administrators to regain access to local or remote SQL Servers by either resetting the sa password, adding sysadmin role to existing login, or adding a new login (SQL or Windows) and granting it sysadmin privileges.
This is accomplished by stopping the SQL services or SQL Clustered Resource Group, then restarting SQL via the command-line using the /mReset-DbaAdmin paramter which starts the server in Single-User mode, and only allows this script to connect.
Using Reset-DbaAdmin will restart your SQL Server.
Reset-DbaAdmin -SqlServer sqlcluster
The simplest method I've found so far is to run SQL Server Management Studio / SQL Express under the SYSTEM context with Sysinternals PSEXEC app. After installing (copying psexec.exe to your computer, running it and accepting the EULA), you can type the following to invoke a system-context instance:
psexec -s -i <path to ssms.exe/sqlservr.exe>
You can use the GUI and don't require single-user mode to effect changes. I had problems with an unknown client tying up the snigle-user connection and this saved me.
Related
I had installed SQL server 2012 using windows authentication and attached a database that is on my C drive. Domain server failed and we have to rebuild domain server. The domain server name is now changed to new name. When I try to log in to the SQL 2012 Studio, I can not log in and I am getting an error login failed for the user.
All we did was add a letter to the domain server. Could someone direct how to correct the issue as SQL server 2012 studio is not allow me to login?
Thanking you,
Hem
This is about more than just changing the name. Domain memberships involve cyrptographic signatures that must also be replaced. All of the machines in your domain will need to re-join. You'll have a new account on your own machine. Yep, it sucks, and this is one reason why you should always keep at least 2 DCs.
Assuming you don't know any other account info, the only way to get back into the existing Sql Server instance is to restart Sql Server in single-user mode and connect as a local administrator. After you've done this, you'll need to recreate all of your logins.
Since you'll be recreating accounts and permission anyway, another option is to use this as opportunity to upgrade to a more recent Sql Server version. Sql Server 2012 is already major 3 releases behind. Shut down and uninstall the existing Sql Server instance. Install the new version of the Sql Server, where you know the sa login, and then attach to the old database mdf files.
Have you try to login with SQL authentication? (with SA account)
SQL:
DROP LOGIN [OldDomain\UserName]
GO
CREATE LOGIN [NewDomain\UserName] FROM WINDOWS WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE=[master], DEFAULT_LANGUAGE=[us_english]
GO
ALTER SERVER ROLE [sysadmin] ADD MEMBER [NewDomain\UserName]
GO
Then you will be able to login with your new domain name. (Make sure you change the domain name and username in the above SQL)
If you need to recover your sa password? Check this article How to recover SA password
I have a local SQL Server Express 2005, for which I don't know the SA password. I always connected with my NT login and I used that when I created a DB I want to access now.
My company split and I am a member of a new domain now. There are no connections with the old domain anymore. My account resides in the new user domain and is a local administrator on the computer where SQL Server runs.
I can access the Server through the Management Studio, but not my user DB anymore. I am not recognized as a Server Admin anymore either. Obviously, local NT administrators are not automatically mapped to be SQL Admins.
Is there a way to do that at this stage? Can I somehow recover access to the SA level of access?
Thanks in advance.
Not having tried this myself, but running the database in single user mode should give you SQL Server Admin privileges if you are a Windows Administrator on that local machine.
SQLServr.Exe –m
Found a technet post that describes the full procedure:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/sqlman/archive/2011/06/14/tips-amp-tricks-you-have-lost-access-to-sql-server-now-what.aspx
you may find this solution elegant:
https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/2682/recover-access-to-a-sql-server-instance/#comments
For me it did not work with SQL2016 but as the author states, it worked for him in older versions of MS SQL.
Quotes (from the above link):
Thanks to Mark Russinovich of Sysinternals fame, there is a very painless way to solve this problem without any downtime: PsExec. While it wasn't one of its primary design goals, PsExec allows you to run programs as the NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account, which - unlike "regular" Administrator accounts - has inherent access to SQL Server.
PsExec -s -i "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\ManagementStudio\Ssms.exe"
Now, you can go in to Security > Logins and add your account as a sysadmin, add other admin accounts, update the sa password, and do anything else you need to do to make your instance manageable. As you can see, I was able to connect in this way to both SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2012 instances from an instance of Management Studio 2012.
I am having quite a problem with SQL Server.
When I installed it, my account was not an administrator, now it is. Apparently, since it was not an administrator of the machine, it is not an administrator of SQL Server, as a consequence I cannot create databases on my machine.
Now, I am on Windows 8, so it seems like SQL Server Configuration Manager is not as accesible as it was before, I managed to run it (I THINK!) from the MMC by running the following command: sqlservermanager10.msc.
Now, can anyone help me configure my current user as an SQL Server admin so I can create databases properly?
Thank you!
if I understand you correctly, you want your account to have sysadmin rights on SQL Server. You can either do this via SQL Server Management studio, or the SQLCMD command line utility. You don't use the SQL Server Configuration Manager.
You need to login as an existing SA (or whichever the identity has the sysadmin role).
Using TSQL via SQLCMD
Run the following command (replacing domain\user with your details)
USE [master]
GO
CREATE LOGIN [domain\user] FROM WINDOWS WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE=[master]
GO
ALTER SERVER ROLE [sysadmin] ADD MEMBER [domain\user]
GO
Via the UI
In SQL Server Management Studio
Navigate to the Security node of the server, and R-Click & Select New Login
In the New Login dialog enter your domain user into the Window Authentication box
Then on the Right side select Server Roles and then make sure SysAdmin is selected
Then Ok that dialog and the windows account will have SA rights. This means then you can full administer the SQL Server.
It's not clear at all what's going on here, but it sounds to me like you haven't got any sysadmins if #Preet isn't correct.
The local Administrators group is not a member of the sysadmin role on recent versions of SQL Server (2005+, IIRC), and if I recall the installer complains if you try to configure it that way. Instead, when you install the instance you specify the users or groups who will be granted the sysadmin role on the instance.
If you did not do this (I think it adds the account doing the installation by default) or used an account or group which was later deleted, had the SID changed, or some similar event, then you have an instance with no sysadmin logins that can authenticate. You may be able to add one by switching the server to single user mode or minimal configuration mode (-f instead of -m).
If none of that works, then you'll have to save your database files, nuke the instance, install the instance again, re-attach your database files, and go from there.
The only other thing I can think that it might be is that the instance is somehow running as a user account that doesn't have permissions to create files in the default database or log directory, but that seems highly unlikely.
Just installed SQL Server Management Studio with Tools including LocalDB. Went through entire setup without ever seeing an option to set the sa password nor setup any other users/logins with sysadmin rights. So now I can't actually do anything in SSMS. Permission is denied to create new database, change the sa password, etc. Pretty useless until I can either log in as sa or setup my user with sysadmin rights. What am I missing here?
During setup you should have seen a screen that offered you to choose mixed authentication for the database engine and also add Windows users to the sysadmin server role. Here's what it looked like:
Chances are you blew past it clicking Next > Next > Next. It's ok, we've all done that.
The easiest fix, I think, is to connect using SSMS via PSExec.exe. This will allow you to connect as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM, which has inherent sysadmin rights to SQL Server. You launch it with these options:
PsExec -s -i "C:\...path to ssms...\Ssms.exe"
This will run SSMS as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM using Windows Auth. You will be prompted to connect to a server, just enter .\SQLEXPRESS (make sure the service is running):
Then you can right-click your instance and change the authentication mode to mixed (Properties > Security), reset the sa password under Security > Logins, and add your Windows login as a sysadmin.
You can also see this answer if that doesn't get you everything:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/12164306/61305
This is rather embarrassing, but I accidentally deleted my Windows account from the list of SQL Server 2008 users and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to re-add myself now that I don't have login privileges.
The server is running on my machine and the only other Windows users with access are IUSR, NETWORK SERVICE and SYSTEM. Is there anything I can do short of re-installing?
I also recently deleted my windows account from my local development 2008 server. I was able to use SQL server's Single User Mode to recreate my login and add it to the sysadmin role. It took just a few minutes, and I didn't have to admit my terrible error to anyone.
From MSDN:
Starting SQL Server in single-user mode enables any member of the
computer's local Administrators group to connect to the instance of SQL
Server as a member of the sysadmin fixed server role.
Here's how I reinstated myself:
Exit out of SSMS
Stop any SQL related services. I had to stop Reporting Services. Other SQL services such as SQL Agent will also use up your one, valuable connection.
Stop the SQL service
Start the SQL service with the extra parameter -m. This will put the SQL into Single User Mode. This means that SQL will only accept one connection.
Use sqlcmd to connect to your server with the -E trusted connection option. SQL will accept you into the sysadmin role if you're a local administrator.
In the interactive session, create your login and add to the sysadmins role.
USE master
GO
CREATE LOGIN [domain\username] FROM WINDOWS WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE=[Master]
GO
EXEC sp_addsrvrolemember #loginame=N'domain\username', #rolename=N'sysadmin'
GO
Stop the SQL service, remove the -m parameter and restart the service. You should now be able to go back into SSMS and continue using the server normally.
If you get the message:
Login failed for user 'domain\username'. Reason: Server is in single user
mode. Only one administrator can connect at this time.
Then there is something using your single connection. You'll need to find that service or connection and stop it before you can log in. Check SQL Agent, SQL Reporting Services, SQL Analysis Services etc.
Luckily, this wasn't too hard to fix (not that it should have been hard...)!
This blog post explains the steps for starting SQL Server in Single User Mode, which (for some reason) allowed me to login as my Windows administrator account, add the account to the user list (with CREATE LOGIN), enable the SA user and set its password to something I actually knew, and finally login as SA and give the Windows account sysadmin privileges.
Edit 07/05/13: Try this link instead.
Often SQL Server is installed so that any any local administrator is a SQL Server sysadmin.
If this is your case you can run Management Studio as administrator and then add any other windows user as a login in the Security section.
This solution worked for me.