WMI Provider Error Access is denied - while changing SQL Server account password

Recently one of our blog readers reported that when they tried to change the SQL Server account password in SQL Server Configuration Manager they were getting "WMI Provider Error Access is denied [0x80070005]".  This was happening on two separate Windows Server 2008 machines that were in a workgroup, and the user was logged on as local administrator.

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I curiously enough was also having this problem on 3 of my machines (two Vista and one Windows 2008) when I was trying to update my password in SQL Server Configuration Manager after my domain account password expired and had to be changed.  I was logged on with my domain account that is a member of local administrator.  This problem was also happening whether I would use my SQL 2005 or SQL 2008 Configuration Manager.

I have yet to finish sorting out exactly why this access denied is occurring, but wanted to post a simple workaround I identified while investigating this.

First confirm that you are logged on with an account that is a local administrator (or member of local Administrators).  After you open SQL Configuration Manager and go to properties for the Service, instead of immediately trying to change the password, go to Browse and then type the account name in the "enter the object name to select" box and choose check names to let it resolve.  Then come back to the properties screen and enter the password. 

Sarah Henwood | Microsoft SQL Server Escalation Services