Resetting SA password

Hello all.

This is the best suited forum I found for my problem, if there's a better suited one please direct me.

I am running SQL Server 7.0 on Windows 2000 Server, and the SA's password has been forgotten and no other employee knows it.
I searched the net for a solution, and I found various pages describing how to reset the SA's password by logging in an administrator, connecting to the server and using a sp_password command.

For some reason, I cannot connect to the server even when I'm logged on as administrator.
Here are the steps I took:

1) I logged in as DOMAIN\Administrator at my domain controller.
2) I opened Enterprise Manager and clicked on the server labeled "(LOCAL)". The server is registered to use "Windows NT authentication".
3) Received the following error:"A connection could not be established to (LOCAL) - Login failed for user 'DOMAIN\Administrator'.. Please verify that SQL Server is running and check your SQL Server registration properties ... and try again". If there was an option to attach a screenshot, I would, but...
4) I have verified that SQL Server is running.

As I am new to SQL Server, I'm not sure about this, but the SQL Server is called SERVERNET, and the domain I'm logged into is called DOMAIN.
Should I login as an administrator to SERVERNET and not to DOMAIN? Is that possible? "SERVERNET" does not show on the login screen, only "DOMAIN" is listed there.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

You need to login into sql server with an id that has sysadmin privilege to change the password.........In your case i think the Id domain is an OS-level id and might not be created in sql as a result of which login has failed for the Id.....if you have client tools installed in your local machine, just login into it and change pwd.....

You can refer this link for changing pwd without using client tools for sql 2000 and sql 2005

http://www.sql-articles.com/ - Sql logins password change utility is the topic name......

|||Thanks for the quick reply.

Can you elaborate on how to login to the SQL Server with "sysadmin" privileges?
As I understand from your response, DOMAIN\Administrator isn't considered to have high enough privileges when the SQL Server is concerned. How do I fix that? How can I manage the list of users of the SQL Server?

I thought that any member of the Administrators group has total control.
Again let me remind that I am logged into the "DOMAIN" domain, and the server is called SERVERNET.
I guess I'm looking for a way to login as SERVERNET\Administrator, and not DOMAIN\Administrator...

I tried the tool you suggested, but it requires the old SA password in order to work. I'm looking for a way to reset the existing password.

Thanks again.
|||

http://searchsqlserver.techtarget.com/expert/KnowledgebaseAnswer/0,289625,sid87_gci1188106,00.html

https://websvc06.cern.ch/winservices/Help/?kbid=050140

pls check this if it helps ..........

the tool i sugested is for sql 2000 and sql 2005.............just in case you need it for those you can use them....