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Three Ways to Reset SA Password!

sqlpasswordrec — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:35:39 -0800

Three Ways to Reset SA Password!

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 Change 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

Step 2: Select SA password and reset SA password

So, Change SA password success!

Option 2 : Change SA Password with Other SQL Server Login

If there is any other SQL Server Login that is a member of sysadmin role, you can log in using that account and reset SA password of SQL Server. Change the SA password account as described here :
SQL SERVER – Change Password of SA Login Using Management Studio.

Login into SQL Server using Windows Authentication.

In Object Explorer, open Security folder, open Logins folder. Right Click on SA account and go to Properties.

Change SA password, and confirm it. Click OK

Make sure to restart the SQL Server and all its services and test new password by log into system using SA login and new password.

Option 3 : Reset SA Password with Windows Login that is a member of Windows Admin Group

If there is any other Windows Login that is a member of Windows Admin Group, log in using that account. Start SQL Server in Single User Mode as described followings :

SQL SERVER – Start SQL Server Instance in Single User Mode.

There are certain situation when user wants to start SQL Server Engine in [EM]"single user"[/em] mode from the start up.

To start SQL Server in single user mode is very simple procedure as displayed below.

Go to SQL Server Configuration Manager and click on SQL Server 2005 Services. Click on desired SQL Server instance and right click go to properties. On the Advance table enter param ‘-m;‘ before existing params in Startup Parameters box.

Make sure that you entered semi-comma after -m. Once that is completed, restart SQL Server services to take this in effect. Once this is done, now you will be only able to connect SQL Server using sqlcmd.

Make sure to remove newly added params after required work is completed to restart it in multi user mode.
Create a new login and give it sysadmin permission.

Note : If you have SQL Server Agent enabled, it starts before SQL Server service. If you have enabled SQL Server in a single user mode, it will connect it first, so it is recommended to turn that off before attempting any of the above options.

Reference : Blog (http://blog.passwordunlocker.com/how-to-change-sa-password-or-other-ms-sql-server-passwords/)
Password Unlocker(http://www.passwordunlocker.com)

How to reset sa password in MS SQL Server?

sqlpasswordrec — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:28:47 -0800

How to reset sa password in MS SQL Server?

The sa account has full rights in the MS SQL Sever environment. When you install the MS SQL Server program, the sa account is created and sa password is default blank (NULL). You can also change the blank sa password to a strong one when the setup program is running.

How to verify if the SA password is blank

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

2 At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

osql -U sa

This connects you to the local, default instance of MSDE by using the sa account. To connect to a named instance installed on your computer type:

osql -U sa -S servername\instancename

You are now at the following prompt:

Password:

3 Press ENTER again. This will pass a NULL (blank) password for sa.

If you are now at the following prompt, after you press ENTER, then you do not have a password for the sa account:

We recommend that you create a non-NULL, strong password to conform with security practices.

However, if you receive the following error message, you have entered an incorrect password. This error message indicates that a password has been created for the sa account:

"Login Failed for user 'sa'."

4 The following error message indicates that the computer that is running SQL Server is set to Windows Authentication only:

Login failed for user 'sa'. Reason: Not associated with a trusted SQL Server connection.

5 You cannot verify your sa password while in Windows Authentication mode. However, you can create a sa password so that your sa account is secure in case your authentication mode is changed to Mixed Mode in the future.

If you receive the following error message, SQL Server may not be running or you may have provided an incorrect name for the named instance of SQL Server that is installed:

[Shared Memory]SQL Server does not exist or access denied.

[Shared Memory]ConnectionOpen (Connect()).

Or, you can install MS SQL Server Password Unlocker to check if the sa password is blank or not. Just one mouse click, you can view the result. Note that this program just identify .mdf file, and the sa password is saved in master.mdf which is usually at C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Data\master.mdf

How to change your SA password

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

Type the following command, and then press ENTER:osql -U saAt 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 -ENote If you are using SQL Server 2005 Express, avoid using the Osql utility, and plan to modify applications that currently use the Osql feature. Use the Sqlcmd utility instead.For more information about the Sqlcmd utility, visit the following Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165702.aspx (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165702.aspx)

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

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

Note Make sure that you replace "complexpwd" with the new strong password. A strong password includes alpha-numeric and special characters, and a combination of upper and lower case characters.

You will receive the following informational message, which indicates that your password was changed successfully:

Password changed.

Besides, taking use of the third part tool to change sa password is also a good way. It is fast and easy. More refer: http://www.passwordunlocker.com/products/how_to_use_msspu.html

How to determine or change your authentication mode
Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

If you are not sure how to verify the authentication mode of your MSDE installation, you can check the corresponding registry entry. By default, the value of the Windows LoginMode registry subkey is set to 1 for Windows Authentication. When Mixed Mode authentication is enabled, this value is a 2.

• The location of the LoginMode subkey depends on whether you installed MSDE as the default MSDE instance or as a named instance. If you installed MSDE as the default instance, the LoginMode subkey is located in the following registry subkey:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\MSSqlserver\MSSqlServer\LoginMode

Note If you are using SQL Server 2005, whatever you installed a default instance or a named instance, locate the following registry subkey. MSSQL.x is a placeholder for the corresponding value for your system:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.x\MSSQLServer

• If you installed MSDE as a named instance, the LoginMode subkey is located in the following registry subkey:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\%InstanceName%\MSSQLServer\LoginMode

Note Before you switch authentication modes, you must set a sa password to avoid exposing a potential security hole.

To switch from Mixed Mode to Integrated (Windows) authentication, follow these steps:

1 To stop MSSQLSERVER and all other related services (such as SQLSERVERAgent), open the Services applet in Control Panel.

2 Open the Registry Editor. To open the Registry Editor, click Start, click Run, and then type: "regedt32″ (without the quotation marks)

Click OK.

3 Locate either of the following subkeys (depending on whether you installed MSDE as the default MSDE instance or as a named instance:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSSqlserver\MSSqlServer

4 Or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\<Instance Name>\MSSQLServer\

5 In the right-pane, double-click the LoginMode subkey.

6 In the DWORD Editor dialog box, set the value of this subkey to 1. Make sure that the Hex option is selected, and then click OK.

7 Restart the MSSQLSERVER and the SQLSERVERAgent services for this change to take effect.

 

Reference: http://blog.passwordunlocker.com/how-to-reset-sa-password-in-ms-sql-server/

How to reset 'sa' password if SQL Password is lost/forgotten/unknown?

sqlpasswordrec — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:48:26 -0800

How to reset 'sa' password if SQL Password is lost/forgotten/unknown?

First off, you can log in as any SSO role user and have them reset the '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:

Edit the ‘runserver' file. By default it's in the $SYBASE_HOME/install directory

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)

Save file and reboot server. You ‘may' have to use Unix ‘kill' or Windows ‘End Task' but I suggest that as a last resort.

While server is restarting, watch the console. You will see something like. "New SSO Password for sa:akshentneksla". If you miss it in the console, check the error logs. It will also be written there.

Re-Edit the runserver file once the server has ‘booted' and remove the "-psa". If you don't, the next time the server is restarted it will RESET the sa password again and you're screwed all over.

use sp_password to change the password to something you will remember.

(OPTIONAL) reboot server to make sure all is nice and neat. (See Note #2 below!).Some Notes:1- People have claimed that they are still not able to login with this new password. If that is the case make sure that the 'sa' account is not locked. You can do this by setting a TRACEFLAG to "4044″. This is a boot time traceflag that allows 'sa' to login even if his/her account is locked.

2- Windows services do not always call the proper .bat file when they startup your service. What happens is that you may edit the ‘runserver' .bat file and yet not have your password reset if you stop/start the service. This is because the sybase installer references the 'sqlsvr.exe' executable with parameters DIRECTLY.(I have not, as of this writing been able to figure out how to change this.) So, stop the service, do all the edits/steps I mention abov, but make sure you take STEP 8 and restart the server VIA THE SERVICES WINDOWS, then you will be sure that your server will start properly on subsequent executions.

Reference: http://blog.passwordunlocker.com/how-to-reset-sa-password-if-sql-password-is-lostforgottenunknown/

How to change your system administration password if you forget your SQL password?

sqlpasswordrec — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:47:46 -0800

How to change your system administration password if you forget your SQL password?

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, two sql password recovery solutions can help solve those problems. The simplest method is to take use of the SQL password recovery tool, and MS SQL Server Password Unlocker is highly recommended by MS SQL Server users. MS SQL Server Password Unlocker helps to decrypt the master.mdf and resets the lost MS SQL password, including changing sa password. This MS SQL password recovery program has small size yet with a powerful numeracy; it resets sa passwords of any length and complexity with no fussy settings. Just one mouse clicking to reset the selected SQL passwords.Whether or not the SQL Server is installed in advance, MS SQL Server Password Unlocker accesses to the master.mdf file directly and lists all the users to the database. For accessing the master.mdf smoothly, the password recovery program detects and stops the running SQL Services automatically.

Besides, you can also reset sa password without any program; just a few Command can work it. As following,
On the computer that is hosting the instance of MSDE to which you are connecting, open the command prompt window.
Type the following command, and then press ENTER:osql -U saAt 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 -ENote If you are using SQL Server 2005 Express, avoid using the Osql utility, and plan to modify applications that currently use the Osql feature. Use the Sqlcmd utility instead.For more information about the Sqlcmd utility, visit the following Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site:
Type the following commands, on separate lines, and then press ENTER:sp_password @old = null, @new = 'complexpwd', @loginame ='sa' go
Note Make sure that you replace "complexpwd" with the new strong password. A strong password includes alpha-numeric and special characters, and a combination of upper and lower case characters.
You will receive the following informational message, which indicates that your password was changed successfully:
Password changed.

Reference: http://blog.passwordunlocker.com/how-to-change-your-system-administration-password-if-you-forget-your-sql-password/  

How to: Change 'sa' password on SQL server 2008

sqlpasswordrec — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:46:46 -0800

How to: Change 'sa' password on SQL server 2008

If you happen to forget your SQL Server password for 'sa' account, then here's a simple query to help you reset it:

ALTER LOGIN [sa] WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE=[master]

GO

USE [master]

GO

ALTER LOGIN [sa] WITH PASSWORD=N'MyNewPassword' MUST_CHANGE

GO

In Case you remember your Old Password and want to change the 'sa' password, use this query:

ALTER LOGIN [sa] WITH PASSWORD = N'MyNewPassword' OLD_PASSWORD = ‘MyOldPassword';

GO

Reference: http://blog.passwordunlocker.com/how-to-change-sa-password-or-other-ms-sql-server-passwords/