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SQL Server Express - can't log on as 'sa' error 233

Paul Kraemer 276 Reputation points
2022-05-06T19:12:44.603+00:00

Hi,

I have recently installed Microsoft SQL Server Express (64-bit) version 14.0.1000.169 on Windows 10 Pro. After having chosen defaults as much as I could during installation, I connected to my server with SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) using Windows Authentication. After doing this, I noticed that in Server Properties | Security, the 'Server Authentication' setting had been set to 'Windows Authentication mode'.

My plan is to use SQL Server as the back-end for some third party (not Microsoft) process historian software that utilizes the 'sa' logon. With this being the case, I changed the 'Server Authentication' setting to 'SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode'. After doing this, I went into Properties for the 'sa' login, which had been created by default but was initially set to 'Disabled'. Here I changed the 'sa' account to 'Enabled' and I assigned it a password. In addition to this, I made sure the 'sa' account was assigned to both the 'public' and 'sysadmin' server roles.

After doing this, I closed SSMS and reopened it. This time, I tried to login as 'sa' using SQL Server Authentication. When I tried this, I got the following message:

Cannot connect to MYSERVERNAME
Additional Information:
A connection was successfully established with the server, but then an error occurred during the login process. (provider: Shared Memory Provider, error: 0 - No process is on the other end of the pipe.) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 233)

If anyone here can give me a clue what might be preventing me from logging on as 'sa', I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,
Paul

SQL Server Other

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  1. Paul Kraemer 276 Reputation points
    2022-05-06T19:28:00.407+00:00

    Hi everyone,

    This is stupid of me, but I had not attempted to restart my PC (or even the SQL Server service) after changing Server Authentication to 'SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode' and enabling the 'sa' logon before I tried to log in as 'sa'.

    I just restarted my PC and it worked fine. I am sorry to waste everyone's time.

    Thanks and best regards,
    Paul

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