• You will try logging in as SA with all possible passwords you have in your mind.
• You will look for the SA password on your computer hard-drive or in your emails (If you had stored it in some file which is a bad practice).
• Try to restore MASTER database from database backup. However, this will not help because you will run in to the same issue as you don’t remember the SA password.
• Rebuild Master database. This may not help as you will lose all system/server level configurations and settings including logins, permissions and any server level objects.
• Re-install SQL Server 2012 and attach all user databases. This may not work as you may experience same issues that you would experience with the option above.

However, the best and fastest way is to unlock SA account with SQL Server Password Changer. Get instant control over locked databases no matter how many instances of Microsoft SQL Server are running. Follow the steps below and you can easily unlock SQL Server database in case you lost SA password or SA account is locked out.

1. First of all, stop the SQL Server service to prevent it blocking access to the master.mdf file.
2. Download and install the SQL Server Password Changer program. After you’ve installed it, launch the program.
3. Click on the Open File button. In the file open dialog, select the master database (master.mdf). Usually the master.mdf file is located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\, where MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER is the name of your SQL Server instance.
4. Once choosing the master.mdf file, the program shows you a list of SQL users.

   

   Select the SA account and click on Change Password. Set a new password and click OK.

5. The program will replace the lost SA password and also unlock your SA account in no time.
6. Restart your SQL Server service and you can then login to SA account successfully.

How to Reset Forgotten SA Password without Stopping SQL Server Instance?

1. To get started, we need to run the SQL Server Management Studio as the system account. This can be done easily with the PsExec program. Download PsExec from Sysinternals website. Extract the PsExec.exe program and save it to a folder on your computer such as C:\.
2. Open an elevated Command Prompt and run the following command:
   C:\PsExec.exe -s -i "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\ManagementStudio\Ssms.exe"
   Note: Your actual path of SQL Server Management Studio may be different from the one above.
3. It will start SQL Server Management Studio as the system account. You’ll see that the username is shown as “NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM”. Simply choose the “Windows Authentication” mode and click on the Connect button.

   

4. Once you connect, in the Object Explorer view, click the plus sign next to Security, and then the plus sign next to Logins. Once expanded, right-click on the SA user, and choose Properties. You can then change the forgotten SA password with a new one.

   

It is quite common to get locked out of a SQL Server instance, or simply forgot the SA password. With this approach you can reset forgotten SQL Server password easily! Quickly regain access to your SQL Server database without even any downtime.

Part 1: Start SQL Server in Single User Mode

1. Open SQL Server Configuration Manager.
2. Find the SQL Server instance you need to recover the SA password.
3. Stop the SQL Server instance.
4. Right-click on the instance and select Properties.
5. Click on the Advanced tab, and add -m; to the beginning of Startup parameter.
6. Click OK and start the instance.

Part 2: Recover SQL Server SA Password

1. Open an elevated command prompt and enter the command:
   osql -S myServer\instanceName -E
   Replace myServer\instanceName with the name of the computer and the instance of SQL Server that you want to connect to.
2. At the next prompts, enter the following commands:
   1> alter login sa enable
2> go
1> sp_password NULL,'new_password','sa'
2> go
1> quit
3. Stop the SQL Server instance.
4. Remove the -m option from the Start parameters field, and then start the SQL Server service.

At this point you should be able to login to SQL Server using the SA user account and the new password you gave it. Besides recovering SA password with OSQL, you can also reset / change your forgotten SA password using the third-party software such as SQL Server Password Changer.

I installed SQL Server 2008 sometime ago and forgot the sa password I set during setup. How can I connect to SQL server now? Is there a way I can retrieve sa password in SQL Server 2008?

If you ever forgot a SA password, you may have thought that the only option is to reinstall SQL Server. But this is not true. If you can still log in to your SQL Server with Windows authentication mode, or log in using other user account that is a member of sysadmin role, then you can reset the lost SA password easily! However I don’t think this approach will help you, otherwise you wouldn’t be sitting here reading article, would you?

Other method is to use this professional password recovery software – SQL Server Password Changer, which provides you with an easy way to reset forgotten SA password in SQL Server 2008 (R2). It also supports SQL Server 2012/2005/2000. Follow this tutorial and you can reset SQL Server password and regain access to your database easily and quickly.

How to Reset Forgotten SA Password in SQL Server 2008?

1. Download and install SQL Server Password Changer on your computer.
2. After installing, start the program and then click on “Open File” button.
3. It will display a dialog box that prompts you to choose the master.mdf database of your SQL Server. But at this time you need to stop your SQL Server serivce in advance so this password recovery program is able to regain full control over the master.mdf file.
4. Once you’ve chosen the master.mdf file, click on “Open”. The program will display all user accounts existing in your SQL Server database.

   

5. Choose the SA user account and then click on “Change Password” button. Enter your new password and click OK. Now you’ve successfully reset your forgotten SA password in SQL Server 2008.
6. Start the SQL Server service and then you can log in to the SA account using the new password.

Using SQL Server Password Changer you can also reset the password of any other user accounts existing in your SQL Server 2008 database. Resetting the password of SA is a breeze!

This tutorial will explain how to change SQL Server password with SQL Server Password Changer, if you forgot sa password and can’t connect to your database using any user account. Once SQL Server is installed, a master.mdf file will be created and be used to stored the logins and passwords for all available SQL Server accounts. With SQL Server Password Changer you can easily change forgotten SQL Server passwords stored in the master.mdf database.

How to Change SQL Server Password:

1. Download SQL Server Password Changer on your local PC, install and launch it.
2. Click the Open File button. Select the SQL Server master database file (master.mdf). Typically it is located in the folder: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data.
3. The program will automatically decrypt the master database file and display all user accounts in your SQL Server. Select the SA account, click the Change Password button. Type a new password and click OK.
4. The old password will be replaced with your new password. Now you are able to log into the SA account using your new password.

Follow the steps above you can also change other user account passwords.  SQL Server Password Changer is a really useful utility and it can help you easily reset SQL Server passwords on SQL Server 2008/2005/2000.

GO
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

You aslo can get a third-party tool to change SQL password. SQL Server Password Changer is one of the best MS SQL password reset tools which can help you change SQL Server password in a few seconds. It allows you to change SQL sa password on SQL Server and Express 2000/2005/2008.