To change the SQL sa password from a command prompt:
Start a command prompt by typing Start – Run – cmd
Enter the following commands, pressing Enter after each line
OSQL -S yourservername -E
1> EXEC sp_password NULL, ‘yourpassword’, ‘sa’
2> GO
Where yourservername is the name of your server and yourpassword is the new sa account password. Type exit twice to return to the server desktop.
This works in SQL 2005, I don’t have access to other versions so I can’t say if it will or won’t work other versions of SQL.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for great advice!
Nice one.
Many thanks.
Matt
http://tweakpdf.blog124.fc2.com/blog-entry-19.html
there is a post from where you can get to know how to change the SQL sa password from a command prompt.
Personally, I would like to take use of the third part password recovery tool like MS SQL Server password Unlocker, which helps to reset the sa and other account passwords instantly.
A few days ago, I had a painful exprience that I lost sa password on my MS SQL Server database, and I almost took the whole weekend to look for some efficient SA password recovery solutions. I asked friends, searched on Internet and even bought some books… Fortunately, I finally got MS SQL Server Password Unlocker and it instantly changed the SA password but no data loss. Besides, I also got a couple of good "recover SA password" solutions in order to save your weekend in case you have lost or forgot MS SQL Server passwords (SA password!)