As Microsoft’s other products, MS SQL Server is easy to operate, and also has good speed and stability, thus becomes the first choice for database development in Windows platform. If you forgot SA password,  how to login to SQL Server? Find the old password or reset SA password to a new one?

SQL SERVER offers two login mechanisms: windows account login and database user login. The former login is to log on with windows system Administrator account, the latter is to log on with user account set up in the SQL Server – the typical one is SA account. Read more

Are you familiar with SQL Server Authentication? How to login with it, and how to reset SA password when you need a new password? This passage will talk about that.

SQL Server operates in one of two authentication modes: Windows Authentication Mode (the default) or Mixed Mode (Windows Authentication and SQL Server Authentication). SQL Server Authentication is provided for backward compatibility, because applications written for SQL Server version 7.0 or earlier may require the use of SQL Server logins and passwords. Even though Windows Authentication is recommended, SQL Server Authentication may be required for connections with clients, and also be necessary for legacy applications. Read more

When you forgot SA password and could not access SQL server 2000/2005/2008, you have to reset SA password at that moment. To change the password, we can use a third-party commercial tool, or take advantage of a trick.

Tip 1 MS SQL Server Password Unlocker

For computer newbie, we suggest you utilize the easier way- MS SQL Server Password Unlocker.

SQL Server Password Unlocker could reset password for SQL server 2000/2005/2008. It works to modify the master.mdf file which stores SQL login password, in that way, it resets SA password.

The procedures are simple too: once you import the master.mdf to SQL Password Unlocker, it will quickly list all the logins. Select SA account and click change password button to input a new SQL server password, and then you are able to log on to SQL Server with the new password under SQL server authentication.

Note:

1. Make sure that you have reset SA password to a strong one. A strong password includes alpha-numeric and special characters, and a combination of upper and lower case characters.
2. SQL password Unlocker will change master.mdf file, for this reason, we highly recommend that you backup master.mdf first!

Tip 2 Command Prompt

1.      On the computer that is hosting the instance of MSDE to which you are connecting, open the command prompt window.

2.      Type the following command, and then press ENTER:
osql -U sa
At the Password: prompt, press ENTER if your password is blank or type the current password. This connects you to the local, default instance of MSDE by using the SA account. To connect by using Windows authentication, type this command: use osql -E

3.      Type the following commands, on separate lines, and then press ENTER:

sp_password @old = null, @new = 'complexpwd',  @loginame ='sa' 

   go

You will receive the following informational message, which indicates that you have reset SA password successfully:

Password changed.

More information about SA password:

According to Microsoft, System administrator (SA) is a special login provided for backward compatibility. By default, it is assigned to the sysadmin fixed server role and cannot be changed. Although it is a built-in administrator login, SA does not be used routinely. Instead, make system administrators members of the sysadmin to be fixed server role, and have them log on using their own logins. Use SA only when there is no other way to log in to an instance of Microsoft SQL Server.

Have you ever worried about how to keep your SQL Server secure? Here gives some simple tricks and tips on this. Meanwhile, it introduces a new professional SQL password recovery tool for you in case you forgot/lost the SQL password to access.

Some simple ways to protect your SQL Server database

1. Using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) to assess the server’s security
MBSA is one of a variety of Microsoft products, which can scan unsafe configuration tools. It can be run locally; you can also run through the network.

2. Isolate your server and regularly back up
Physical and logical isolation would form the basis of SQL Server security. Database should be installed within the enterprise network security area, but not directly connected to the Internet. Back up all data regularly and store copies in a safe location outside the site.

3. Assign a strong SA password for a SA account
SA account should always have a strong password, even if Windows is configured to require authentication of the server. This will ensure that the server has been reconfigured in the future as Mixed Mode authentication; it will not appear blank or weak SA.

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One of my friends complained that: I am not a sql db manager by any means but I’ve been asked to reset sa password for a sql 2005 server. My concern is …will changing this password have any effect on applications that use sql 2005. They use Micro CRM 3.0, and I don’t want to disrupt their service. The reason they want to reset the password is because they recently bought a new accounting package that will tie into CRM, and the technicians are requesting the password to complete the install. Read more

In our life and work, these follows often happen: I’ve forgotten the sa password for SQL Server, what can I do? How to reset or reset the forgotten SQL password? Don’t worry about that, here I will give you some methods to recover it.

Method 1. Reset SQL password from the command line

1. Open a command prompt window by selecting “Start“–>”Run…”, and typing “cmd.exe” in the “Run” dialog box.

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SQL SERVER – Reset sa Password

1.Open the SQL Server express management studio

2.Connect to SQL Server using windows authentication

3.Right click the server name and choose properties

4.Go to security tab. Change server authentication to “SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode” Read more

Look, there are so many similar questions:

“How to reset sa password?”

“How to change SQL password without data loss?”

“I’ve forgotten the sa password for SQL Server – what can I do?”

“How to Change SA Password If Forgot or Lost SQL Password?”

…

In fact Read more

First off, you can log in as any SSO role user and have them reset ‘sa’ password for you.

Being life and life being not always so simple we may not always have an SSO role handy (or configured)

So, we resort to the following:

1. Edit the ‘runserver’ file. By default it’s in the $SYBASE_HOME/install directory
2. Add “-psa” (for password ‘sa’) to the end of the command line. (I have noticed that this DOES NOT work in windows unless it’s the FIRST param on the command line)

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A few days ago, I had a painful exprience that I lost sa password on my MS SQL Server database, and I almost took the whole weekend to look for some efficient SA password recovery solutions. I asked friends, searched on Internet and even bought some books… Fortunately, I finally got MS SQL Server Password Unlocker and it instantly changed the SA password but no data loss. Besides, I also got a couple of good “recover SA password” solutions in order to save your weekend in case you have lost or forgot MS SQL Server passwords (SA password!)

Option 1 : Use MS SQL Server Password Unlocker to Reset SA Password

The most direct, efficient and fastest way to reset SA password is to take use of the third part utility – MS SQL Server Password Unlocker. Just two steps:

Step 1: Access to master.mdf file, which is default at C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Data\master.mdf

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