Share via

Unable to connect SQL Server DB

Viveka Choudhary (HCL TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATE SER) 20 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff
2026-03-18T10:02:09.43+00:00

Getting error in SSMS:

Login failed for user 'token-identified principal' Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18456

Connection Id 61b0081b-2bfd-47d7-a64b-42e9fd647ce6

For help, click: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?ProdName=Microsoft%20SQL%20Server&EvtSrc=MSSQLServer&EvtID=18456&LinkId=20476

Getting error in Azure SQL Query:

Microsoft Entra authentication

Login failed for user 'token-identified principal'.

Azure SQL Database
Answer accepted by question author
  1. Manoj Kumar Boyini 11,680 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-03-19T05:52:39.2633333+00:00

    Hi Viveka Choudhary (HCL TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATE SER)

    This issue was caused by network/authentication interference from Global Secure Access (GSA) when connecting to Azure SQL using Microsoft Entra authentication. GSA was blocking or altering the token‑based authentication flow, which resulted in the error “Login failed for user ‘token‑identified principal’ (Error 18456)”.

    • Disabled Global Secure Access (GSA) for the connection
    • Connected via VPN instead
    • After this change, Entra authentication succeeded and the SQL connection worked as expected

    This was not a SQL or permission issue. It was a network path issue affecting Entra token authentication. Using VPN or excluding Azure SQL traffic from GSA resolves the problem.

    Hoep this helps, Please let us know if you have any questions and concerns.

    0 comments

0 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.