Changing account password in active directory - SQL accounts

Susan Dodds 421 Reputation points
2026-08-25T17:08:23.1033333+00:00

I might need to change the password of an account in active directory.

I have several instances of SQL express running various programs, SharePoint being one of them.

How can I verify which accounts those SQL instances depend on and if it is on that account, will things automatically change with the new password or do I need to manually change the password in SQL myself? If the latter, how do I do so?

Thanks

SQL Server | Other
SQL Server | Other

Additional SQL Server features and topics not covered by specific categories

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Answer accepted by question author
Deepesh Dhake 1,080 Reputation points
2026-08-25T17:38:41.64+00:00

You may try following:

Inside SQL Server (Database Access): No action needed. SQL delegates Windows Authentication to AD. Once changed in AD, it works automatically.

SQL Windows Services: Manual update required. Update the password in SQL Server Configuration Manager under the Log On tab of the service properties, then restart the service.

SharePoint: Manual update required in SharePoint. Update managed accounts via SharePoint PowerShell (Set-SPManagedAccount) or Central Admin-changing it only in AD breaks SharePoint's database connections.

To check which accounts your SQL services use, run in PowerShell:

PowerShell

Get-CimInstance Win32_Service | Where-Object { $_.Name -like "*SQL*" } | Select-Object Name, StartName

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