SQL Server Express 2005: Frequently Asked Questions.

How can I set up an SQL Database?

To do so, follow the procedures in SQL Server Express 2005 Tutorial: installation and settings.

I forgot my “sa” password. What can I do about it?

You can change it via Management Studio. To do so, connect temporarily to the Server with Windows Authentication.

After connecting, right-click “sa”, and select Properties:

On this screen, you will be able to redefine this user’s password. Uncheck Enforce password policy option to enable other passwords’ definition, regardless of their complexity level in characters combination.

I don’t want to use the “sa” user. How can I create another login?

Right-click Logins, and then select New Login…:

Choose a name for your login, select the SQL Server Authentication option, and set up the new password:

At User mapping menu, select the databases this user will have access to.

When changing a login’s password, another (larger) password is saved instead. Why does this happen?

Actually, the software will insert a few extra false asterisks to the password field, to try to mask the actual number of characters in the password.

During installation, I checked the Windows Authentication option. Can this be altered later? 

Yes. To do so, right-click the server (as seen below), and select Properties:

At Security menu, you can redefine the authentication option:

After that, create a new user by following the steps in previous items of this article. This user will be required to log into SQL Express, and also to connect the Elipse E3 to the Database.