Transfer SQL Logins to Another SQL 2005 Server

After you move a database from one instance of SQL 2005 to another instance of SQL 2005, the users may not be able to log in to the database on the new server. Additionally, the users may receive the following error message: Login failed for user ‘MyUser’. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18456).

This problem occurs because you did not transfer the logins and the passwords from the old instance of SQL 2005 to the new instance.

To transfer the logins and the passwords from one instance of SQL 2005 to another, follow these steps:

1. On the old server, start SQL Server Management Studio, and then connect to the instance of SQL Server from which you moved the database.
2. Open a New Query, and then run the following script. The script will create a stored procedure that can be scheduled.

   -- this script is intended for a SQL 2005 server 
   -- the execute script will NOT work on a SQL 2000 server
   -- begin script, create sp_help_revlogin procedure
   USE master
   GO
   IF OBJECT_ID ('sp_hexadecimal') IS NOT NULL
     DROP PROCEDURE sp_hexadecimal
   GO
   CREATE PROCEDURE sp_hexadecimal
       @binvalue varbinary(256),
       @hexvalue varchar (514) OUTPUT
   AS
   DECLARE @charvalue varchar (514)
   DECLARE @i int
   DECLARE @length int
   DECLARE @hexstring char(16)
   SELECT @charvalue = '0x'
   SELECT @i = 1
   SELECT @length = DATALENGTH (@binvalue)
   SELECT @hexstring = '0123456789ABCDEF'
   WHILE (@i <= @length)
   BEGIN
     DECLARE @tempint int
     DECLARE @firstint int
     DECLARE @secondint int
     SELECT @tempint = CONVERT(int, SUBSTRING(@binvalue,@i,1))
     SELECT @firstint = FLOOR(@tempint/16)
     SELECT @secondint = @tempint - (@firstint*16)
     SELECT @charvalue = @charvalue +
       SUBSTRING(@hexstring, @firstint+1, 1) +
       SUBSTRING(@hexstring, @secondint+1, 1)
     SELECT @i = @i + 1
   END
   
   SELECT @hexvalue = @charvalue
   GO
    
   IF OBJECT_ID ('sp_help_revlogin') IS NOT NULL
     DROP PROCEDURE sp_help_revlogin
   GO
   CREATE PROCEDURE sp_help_revlogin @login_name sysname = NULL AS
   DECLARE @name sysname
   DECLARE @type varchar (1)
   DECLARE @hasaccess int
   DECLARE @denylogin int
   DECLARE @is_disabled int
   DECLARE @PWD_varbinary  varbinary (256)
   DECLARE @PWD_string  varchar (514)
   DECLARE @SID_varbinary varbinary (85)
   DECLARE @SID_string varchar (514)
   DECLARE @tmpstr  varchar (1024)
   DECLARE @is_policy_checked varchar (3)
   DECLARE @is_expiration_checked varchar (3)
   
   DECLARE @defaultdb sysname
    
   IF (@login_name IS NULL)
     DECLARE login_curs CURSOR FOR
   
         SELECT p.sid, p.name, p.type, p.is_disabled, p.default_database_name, l.hasaccess, l.denylogin FROM 
   sys.server_principals p LEFT JOIN sys.syslogins l
         ON ( l.name = p.name ) WHERE p.type IN ( 'S', 'G', 'U' ) AND p.name  'sa'
   ELSE
     DECLARE login_curs CURSOR FOR
   
         SELECT p.sid, p.name, p.type, p.is_disabled, p.default_database_name, l.hasaccess, l.denylogin FROM 
   sys.server_principals p LEFT JOIN sys.syslogins l
         ON ( l.name = p.name ) WHERE p.type IN ( 'S', 'G', 'U' ) AND p.name = @login_name
   OPEN login_curs
   
   FETCH NEXT FROM login_curs INTO @SID_varbinary, @name, @type, @is_disabled, @defaultdb, @hasaccess, @denylogin
   IF (@@fetch_status = -1)
   BEGIN
     PRINT 'No login(s) found.'
     CLOSE login_curs
     DEALLOCATE login_curs
     RETURN -1
   END
   SET @tmpstr = '/* sp_help_revlogin script '
   PRINT @tmpstr
   SET @tmpstr = '** Generated ' + CONVERT (varchar, GETDATE()) + ' on ' + @@SERVERNAME + ' */'
   PRINT @tmpstr
   PRINT ''
   WHILE (@@fetch_status  -1)
   BEGIN
     IF (@@fetch_status  -2)
     BEGIN
       PRINT ''
       SET @tmpstr = '-- Login: ' + @name
       PRINT @tmpstr
       IF (@type IN ( 'G', 'U'))
       BEGIN -- NT authenticated account/group
   
         SET @tmpstr = 'CREATE LOGIN ' + QUOTENAME( @name ) + ' FROM WINDOWS WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE = [' + @defaultdb + ']'
       END
       ELSE BEGIN -- SQL Server authentication
           -- obtain password and sid
               SET @PWD_varbinary = CAST( LOGINPROPERTY( @name, 'PasswordHash' ) AS varbinary (256) )
           EXEC sp_hexadecimal @PWD_varbinary, @PWD_string OUT
           EXEC sp_hexadecimal @SID_varbinary,@SID_string OUT
    
           -- obtain password policy state
           SELECT @is_policy_checked = CASE is_policy_checked WHEN 1 THEN 'ON' WHEN 0 THEN 'OFF' ELSE NULL END FROM sys.sql_logins WHERE name = @name
           SELECT @is_expiration_checked = CASE is_expiration_checked WHEN 1 THEN 'ON' WHEN 0 THEN 'OFF' ELSE NULL END FROM sys.sql_logins WHERE name = @name
    
               SET @tmpstr = 'CREATE LOGIN ' + QUOTENAME( @name ) + ' WITH PASSWORD = ' + @PWD_string + ' HASHED, SID = ' + @SID_string + ', DEFAULT_DATABASE = [' + @defaultdb + ']'
   
           IF ( @is_policy_checked IS NOT NULL )
           BEGIN
             SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + ', CHECK_POLICY = ' + @is_policy_checked
           END
           IF ( @is_expiration_checked IS NOT NULL )
           BEGIN
             SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + ', CHECK_EXPIRATION = ' + @is_expiration_checked
           END
       END
       IF (@denylogin = 1)
       BEGIN -- login is denied access
         SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + '; DENY CONNECT SQL TO ' + QUOTENAME( @name )
       END
       ELSE IF (@hasaccess = 0)
       BEGIN -- login exists but does not have access
         SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + '; REVOKE CONNECT SQL TO ' + QUOTENAME( @name )
       END
       IF (@is_disabled = 1)
       BEGIN -- login is disabled
         SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + '; ALTER LOGIN ' + QUOTENAME( @name ) + ' DISABLE'
       END
       PRINT @tmpstr
     END
   
     FETCH NEXT FROM login_curs INTO @SID_varbinary, @name, @type, @is_disabled, @defaultdb, @hasaccess, @denylogin
      END
   CLOSE login_curs
   DEALLOCATE login_curs
   RETURN 0
   GO
   -- end script

   After the stored procedure has been created, run the sp_help_revlogin stored procedure:

   EXEC sp_help_revlogin

3. The results output a script that can be run on any SQL server to create the users. An example of the output is as follows. If you output the results to a script, you will first remove the [SQLSTATE 01000] from each line and execute:

   -- Login: UserName [SQLSTATE 01000]
   CREATE LOGIN [UserName] WITH PASSWORD = 0x00AAA0000000000AAAAAAAAAAAA000A00000000A00AAAA0AAAAAAA0A0AA HASHED, SID = 0xAA0000A00AA0A0AA0AAAAAAA00000AAA0A, DEFAULT_DATABASE = [DatabaseName], CHECK_POLICY = OFF, CHECK_EXPIRATION = OFF [SQLSTATE 01000]

4. If the login already exists, the password can be repaired by altering the script:

   -- Login: UserName [SQLSTATE 01000]
   ALTER LOGIN [UserName] WITH PASSWORD = 0x0000A000AAAAAAA0AAA000A0A0AA HASHED

The stored procedures can also be scheduled and used for disaster recovery. I usually schedule this stored procedure as another task within the master database backup and output the results to a script.

Note: If there are any warnings or errors, correct them with instructions provided in Microsoft’s reference document. The link is listed above.

Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918992/