Understanding "login failed" (Error 18456) error messages in SQL Server 2005

In continuing with the theme of understanding error messages I'll discuss the "login failed" messages that are surfaced by the client and written to the server's error log (if the auditlevel is set to log failures on login which is the default) in the event of an error during the login process.

If the server encounters an error that prevents a login from succeeding, the client will display the following error mesage.

Msg 18456, Level 14, State 1, Server <server name>, Line 1
Login failed for user '<user name>'

Note that the message is kept fairly nondescript to prevent information disclosure to unauthenticated clients. In particular, the 'State' will always be shown to be '1' regardless of the nature of the problem. To determine the true reason for the failure, the administrator can look in the server's error log where a corresponding entry will be written. An example of an entry is:

2006-02-27 00:02:00.34 Logon Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8.

2006-02-27 00:02:00.34 Logon Login failed for user '<user name>'. [CLIENT: <ip address>]

n

The key to the message is the 'State' which the server will accurately set to reflect the source of the problem. In the example above, State 8 indicates that the authentication failed because the user provided an incorrect password. The common error states and their descriptions are provided in the following table:

Other error states indicate an internal error and may require assistance from CSS.

Il-Sung Lee
Program Manager, SQL Server Protocols

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

• Anonymous
  March 12, 2006
  Im developing the 5 stars programme in .NET
  Im having this problem with sql server 2005 in the first example of c#:
  
  Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16.
  
  What should I do?
  
  My email: alankind@hotmail.com
  
  Thanks!

• Anonymous
  March 13, 2006
  I have exactly the same problem using SQL Server 2005.
  
  Cheers,
  
  Ignacio Abel.

• Anonymous
  March 13, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 13, 2006
  Hello,
  when connecting from ODBC with SQL security, all connections are failing.
  
  Error is 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8.
  
  Creating new logins, and triple-checking the passwords did not help...
  
  Thank you
  EH
  
  

• Anonymous
  March 15, 2006
  I am having the same error.  The database engine will not allow any logons.  The other engines seem to be fine.  This still means that I do not have permissions for any of the databases.  This is using local or domain accounts.  
  
  I created this problem by detaching one database running on the server.  I went to connect the datafiles and I cannot get into the server at all.

• Anonymous
  March 15, 2006
  When you say "Same Error" I am assuming you mean:
  
   Error is 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8.
  
  This error is pretty clear, means that the password supplied does not match the password given.  Note that passwords in SQL 2005 are case-sensitive, this could be an issue.
  
  If you are a local administrator to the computer, then you should always be able to log into SQL.
  
  Also, try using the admin port if the normal ports are not working, for example, to connect to local default instance:
  
   sqlcmd -E -Sadmin:.
  
  To connect to local named instance:
  
   sqlcmd -E -Sadmin:.Instance1
  

• Anonymous
  March 17, 2006
  Thanks so much for your help.
  
  I was able to use SQLCMD to gain access and rebuild access for my database
  admin account.  I was then able to use this account to reattach the detached
  database.  When I did this the database and all user access to SQL2005 was
  back to normal.  I am not sure why this happened.  We have about ten other
  databases on this SQL server.  The same users had access to these tables as
  well as the detached table so the detached table was not the only table for
  which they had access.  The detached table was just a table of 'production'
  data.  
  
  I will try and see if I can recreate the problem but will wait for
  the weekend to try that!
  

• Anonymous
  March 24, 2006
  soloution

• Anonymous
  April 10, 2006
  Re: state 16 - if there is no other database to log into, how do we determine what the problem is?  Users have installed SQL Server Express 2005 using Windows Authentication, where user id and password should not be an issue, right?

• Anonymous
  April 20, 2006
  hi there
  
  i'm getting a 'State: 1' (yes, in the server's event log). what could this mean?
  
  thanks in advance!

• Anonymous
  April 20, 2006
  Regarding 'State: 1', are you running SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2000?  Supportability improvements were made to 2005 to make the states more unique but 2000 still reports 'State: 1' in every case.
  
  - Vaughn

• Anonymous
  April 20, 2006
  we're running SQL Server 2005 CTP. server authentication is set to "SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode". when connecting using windows accounts everything is fine, but any attempt to connect as e.g. 'sa' fails with this 'State: 1' error message... greets, rm

• Anonymous
  April 21, 2006
  Another question, are you looking at the error message state that the client receives or the error message state in the server error log?  By default the server error log is at "C:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL ServerMSSQL.1MSSQLLOGERRORLOG".  Also, you mentioned you're running at SQL2K5 CTP rather than RTM.  Which CTP are you using?  If you're using an old CTP it may be the case that unique state improvement hadn't yet been made.

• Anonymous
  May 22, 2006
  I'm getting Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 27
  Could you help me on state 27, please.
  I'm running SQL 2005 version 9.00.1399.06
  Thx

• Anonymous
  May 23, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 23, 2006
  This Error is completly related to SQL Server authontication. This will ome where there will be a mismatch in the Existing Password and the Given passowrd.
  
  I faced this issue when I changed the SQL Server start up account.
  
  sinishkg@hotmail.com

• Anonymous
  June 14, 2006
  I have error state 10 what does that mean?

• Anonymous
  June 14, 2006
  Hi, Nam
  
  This forum can help you.
  
  http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=92&SiteID=1
  
  Ming.

• Anonymous
  July 21, 2006
  Hi,
  
  just a hint for those with state 8 (wrong password):
  
  With SQL 2005, the passwords are CASE-SENSITIVE, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907284

• Anonymous
  July 31, 2006
  Hi,
  
  08/01/2006 02:28:39,Logon,Unknown,Error: 18456 Severity: 14 State: 23.
  
  08/01/2006 02:28:47,Logon,Unknown,Error: 18456 Severity: 14 State: 16.
  
  We had the problem with error state 16 and 23 on our SQL 2005 (64 bits). The error came and gone by itself, any ideas?
  
  Tan
  
  

• Anonymous
  August 01, 2006
  We get this error trying to connect using tcp/ip. sa can connect using tcp/ip, but all other sql logins fail. This began after creating a TCP ENDPOINT listening on port 1090. The endpoint has been dropped, server restarted. Cannot get sql logins to connect using tcp/ip.
  
  Login failed for user 'PrefAdmin'. [CLIENT: ...]
  Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 12.
  
  

• Anonymous
  August 01, 2006
  re: can't connect using tcp/ip - when the logins are in the sysadmin role, they can connection via tcp/ip - otherwise they cannot.

• Anonymous
  August 06, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  September 06, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  September 11, 2006
  I tried to connect to the SQL Server 2005 Express edition Microsoft Server Management Studio.
  
  I gave the followign:
  Authentication: SQL Sever Authentication
  Login: sa
  Password:
  
  It gave me error 18456
  On checking the log, following entry was found
  2006-09-12 14:18:19.20 Logon       Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 7.
  2006-09-12 14:18:19.20 Logon       Login failed for user 'sa'. [CLIENT: <local machine>]
  
  Please let me know how to allow sa to log in using SQL authentication.
  
  Regards
  Vineet Dewan

• Anonymous
  September 13, 2006
  I resolved my issue with the sa login 'state 8' by unticking the enforce password policy in the properties of the sa user, this is for SQL2005 only.

• Anonymous
  September 19, 2006
  Did someone figure out the State: 1 issue?
  I am starting my SQL server on sigle mode and trying to login under the account that installed the server but still I get this error:
  
  2006-09-19 13:52:29.29 Logon       Error: 18461, Severity: 14, State: 1.
  2006-09-19 13:52:29.29 Logon       Login failed for user 'ASSUREONBAssureonManager'. Reason: Server is in single user mode. Only one administrator can connect at this time. [CLIENT: <local machine>]
  
  In
  C:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL ServerMSSQL.1MSSQLLOGERRORLOG

• Anonymous
  September 19, 2006
  Hi, Carmen
  
     This is more SQL security area, you can post your question in following forum, many experts can help you shortly:
  
  http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=92&SiteID=1
  
  Good Luck!
  Ming

• Anonymous
  October 03, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 12, 2006
  Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 5 would anyone know how to correct this error?

• Anonymous
  October 16, 2006
  Hi @all We have a SBS2K3 with SQL2k5. On every Startup we get the following Error: Ereignistyp: Fehlerüberw. Ereignisquelle: MSSQL$SHAREPOINT Ereigniskategorie: (4) Ereigniskennung: 18456 Datum:  17.10.2006 Zeit:  00:20:25 Benutzer:  NT-AUTORITÄTNETZWERKDIENST Computer: PDC Beschreibung: Fehler bei der Anmeldung für den Benutzer 'NT-AUTORITÄTNETZWERKDIENST'. [CLIENT: 192.168.2.250] Weitere Informationen über die Hilfe- und Supportdienste erhalten Sie unter http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. Daten: 0000: 18 48 00 00 0e 00 00 00   .H...... 0008: 0f 00 00 00 50 00 44 00   ....P.D. 0010: 43 00 5c 00 53 00 48 00   C..S.H. 0018: 41 00 52 00 45 00 50 00   A.R.E.P. 0020: 4f 00 49 00 4e 00 54 00   O.I.N.T. 0028: 00 00 07 00 00 00 6d 00   ......m. 0030: 61 00 73 00 74 00 65 00   a.s.t.e. 0038: 72 00 00 00               r...     The Client: 192.168.2.250 is the SBS itself with the internal LAN NIC (the SBS have 2 NIC´s for WAN and LAN) The NT-AuthorityNetworkservice is in Logon of the DB and have dbcreate and dbsecurity rights. What can we do? regards.

• Anonymous
  October 18, 2006
  I have the following error, no severity displayed, I can't ping IP address and it does not belong to us. Any hel will be appreciated. Event Type: Failure Audit Event Source: MSSQLSERVER Event Category: (4) Event ID: 18456 Date: 19/10/2006 Time: 09:27:26 User: N/A Computer: INET Description: Login failed for user 'sa'. [CLIENT: 81.27.111.162]

• Anonymous
  October 24, 2006
  I have a VB5 app that's providing the login/password through an ADO connection string, and been unable to establish a successful remote server connection to SqlExpress. Mine keeps going back and forth between state 16 and state 8, and I assure you the password being provided is correct. What gives with this authentication?

• Anonymous
  October 25, 2006
  We just migrated to a new sql server with SQL Server 2005 installed (we moved from 2000). We are experiencing two issues that we cannot resolve:

1. The site and database clients that use this SQL Server run very slow now. We have noticed that the lsass.exe process consistantly uses 25% CPU, +/- 10%. When we stop SQL server the lsass.exe process goes down to 0. What can be causing this? The website uses a SQL user account, not a windows user account.
2. We have an error in the event log that might be related to the issue above. It appears every few minutes: Event Type: Failure Audit Event Source: MSSQLSERVER Event Category: (4) Event ID: 18456 Date:  10/25/2006 Time:  11:54:42 AM User:  NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM Computer: MSDB Description: Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM'. [CLIENT: <local machine>] The error log from SQL gives more info: Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. What is causing this? How can this be traced? I am stuck here. All help greatly appreciated. Moshe

• Anonymous
  October 26, 2006
  Moshe,  One of the improvements in SQL 2005 is that all logins are always encrypted using SSL. If you have frequent connection logins, you will see lsass being quit active. Is it your case? For the error in the ERRORLOG, the STATE tell that the process doesn't have permission of the login database. It apears to use NT authentication, running as localsystem. You can find who is trying to login from your local machine and go from there...

• Anonymous
  October 30, 2006
  I keep on getting this error intermittently and the user specified in the error log has got the correct permission. 2006-10-31 08:58:36.01 Logon       Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. 2006-10-31 08:58:36.01 Logon       Login failed for user 'AbsLayer'. [CLIENT: <local machine>] 2006-10-31 08:58:37.28 spid53      Starting up database 'AbsLayerRepository'. I have added retry logic in my code which keeps on retrying the connection for the configurable amount of time, when I get this error I can see in my application log that its retrying the connection and most of the time it passes after 2 - 3 attempts but some time it goes up to 9-10 attempts so I feel it to be unreliable in the live system. Can some one please help me why this error occurs or is there any patch to resolve this issue.

• Anonymous
  November 04, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 10, 2006
  I was getting the same error, and I try everything listed on the Forum, and could not get rid of the error. It looks like there is some funkiness on the ODBC Connection, and it will always use the current user logged on the computer, not the specified SQLSever account, to send over the network for the connection profile. To eliminate the error, I had to grant the Domain Users access to the SQL Database the program was trying to connect to. In my case, all users had access to the database, but security settings can be put in place to limit the users’ access. In other words, I could not fixed the problem, so I had to make a workaround.

• Anonymous
  November 26, 2006
  Like every one else, I was frustrated by the strange 18456 error with State=8. I store my password in a textfile, and when I need it, I do a copy and paste into the password field. I use a password something like "Ity@1%6$9#g". I tried a number of "strangies", but this one worked on more than one occasion: using the direction arrow key pointing left, I moved the cursor back to the beginning of the password. It worked! Try this at home, folks, it does not hurt a bit, and perhaps it might give the Microsoft boys a hint about the nature of the problem if you report the results.

• Anonymous
  December 11, 2006
  Il-Sung, thanks so much for writing this up -- definitely the most helpful source of debugging info for login failures to SQL!

• Anonymous
  December 12, 2006
  What is State 16?  I am getting Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16

• Anonymous
  December 12, 2006
  Hi Shawn, State 16 indicates that target database could not be determined.  This may mean that the specified database is non-existent, you do not have permissions on the database, or the database may not be online.  Also, you can do as Matt mentioned in his comments on March 14 -- try connecting to a different database and then use the USE DATABASE to the problematic database and see what the error is. Il-Sung.

• Anonymous
  December 13, 2006
  I have an SQL Server 2005 cluster. Windows Authentication works fine on the primary node but after failing over onto the secondary node I am getting the 18456 error State 11.   I noticed someone else posted concerning this error state but I do not see a response to this issue.

• Anonymous
  January 04, 2007
  I am getting the state 16 error, but it is not recurring.  However there is a separate partition on the server that holds the logfiles which I noticed have not changed since the last time I received the state 16 error.  Also the partition is almost to capacity.  Are these two problems related or do the logfiles not overwrite themselves?  I will go ahead and apologize for dumb questions.  I have no experience in SQL and my job requires me to administer an enterprise GIS database!

• Anonymous
  January 05, 2007
  Hi , When I try to start the merge agents in SQL server 2000 I get the error message as below:

Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITYANONYMOUS LOGON'. (Source: ATELBSNT65 (Data source); Error number: 18456)

There are 3 servers ATELBSNT65,66,67. When I try to access merge agents through ATELBSNT67 this error occurs. ATELBSNT67 is the publisher and ATELBSNT65,66 are the two subscribers. So please help.

• Anonymous
  January 09, 2007
  Hi, We are running SQl2005 Enterprise CTP2, and we keep getting Login failed for user 'administrator'. [CLIENT: 202.163.221.227] Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 5. have already checked and the administrtor is part of the sys admin role Can any one help please??

• Anonymous
  January 11, 2007
  Hello, We have a brand new server 2005 64 bit SP1. We can't see the logs of the server from the entreprise manager (error). When i get to the logs by other means, i always see this error : Logon       Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 11. Logon       Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM'. [CLIENT: <local machine>] Do you have any idea ? Thnks

• Anonymous
  January 11, 2007
  Hello again, I searched a bit more. NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM login was missing (deleted???) I created a new one, gave the sysadmin role and i can read the logs again... The why of the disappear of the login is another story, we are DBA and system working on the server...

• Anonymous
  January 12, 2007
  I'm setting up my first SQL2K5.  I've set up about seven SQK2K, but all of them use Windows Authentication.  This one has to use SQL authentication.  This is a research database with a single user.  I want to give him the db-owner role.  When I try to login with the login I made for him I get an MS SQL Error 4064. Cannot open default database. The database log says Error 18456 Severity 14 State 16.  The default database is referenced in the user login window and that database in online.  Is there something I need to do besides create a login to the database server for this user, create a login to his default database, and add him to the db_owner role? Thx.

• Anonymous
  January 15, 2007
  HI, A couple of days back i have reported a problem about Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 5. and in SQl logs i used to get Login failed for user 'administrator' The solution was to disable SQl Fibers The system is running fine now. Thx

• Anonymous
  January 22, 2007
  login failed user sa for sql srv 2000

• Anonymous
  January 28, 2007
  PingBack from http://www.do-ict.nl/2007/01/28/sharepoint-and-sql-server-error-18456/

• Anonymous
  January 28, 2007
  Had same problem state 14, I am running SQL 2005 dev edition with SP1, after some playing around I my user account didn't have access to the MSSQL folder, I found by running the SQL Server Management studio as 'administrator' from the right click menu all works fine.Very odd though as I installed SQL from my user which is an administrator, looks like vista handles user differently.

• Anonymous
  February 15, 2007
  Hi, I'm getting a state 1 error with SQL Server 2005 Express - I've followed links from this forum but so far have had no luck at all in finding an answer (or even a cause!) Help!

• Anonymous
  February 18, 2007
  Hi, I have SQL 2000 SP 4 running with both SQL & Windows Auth. selected. The moment I open Enterprise Manager from a computer that is not on the domain I get the following errors in the NT eventlog although I am using SQL Auth in Ent. Manager: Logon attempt by: MICROSOFT_AUTHENTICATION_PACKAGE_V1_0 Logon account: [Remote NT User ID] Source Workstation: [Remote Workstation Name] Error Code: 0xC0000064 Logon Failure: Reason: Unknown user name or bad password User Name: [Remote NT User ID] Domain: [Remote Workstation Name] Logon Type: 3 Logon Process: NtLmSsp Authentication Package: NTLM Workstation Name: [Remote Workstation Name] Caller User Name: - Caller Domain: - Caller Logon ID: - Caller Process ID: - Transited Services: - Source Network Address: 10.2.5.16 Source Port: 0 I was under the impression that the whole point of SQL Auth. is not to try and Aut. the local logged on user? Any pointers would be appreciated. Adam

• Anonymous
  February 21, 2007
  Hi,all. I got an error state 1. I created a user called "sa"(because there was no system admin) and I tried to connect to the db engine with this user,but I can't. "Login failed for user 'sa'. The user is not associated with a trusted SQL Server connection. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18452)" is displayed. How can I connect? please inform me to realhermes618@gmail.com

• Anonymous
  February 21, 2007
  You probably don't have mixed mode security enabled on your SQL Server.  By default only integrated security is allowed. Open SQL Server Management Studio and right click on the instance node in the Object Explorer and select Properties.  Click on Security page and ensure that "SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode" option is selected.  Press OK and restart SQL.

• Anonymous
  February 21, 2007
  Hi, I have SQL server 2005 enterprise edition and IIS  server 6.0 on one machine, and trying to connect through ASP which uses the IUSR_machinename account. I get error message 'login failed' and the serverlog shows state 11. That is great, but I haven't found any additional information as to solve this.  'server access failure' sounds pretty obscure. Any ideas how to resolve this ? THanks so much in advance, Luc

• Anonymous
  March 05, 2007
  Hi All, Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16 happened on my server when the owner of the files on the file system is not a user in SQL Server. I had the following scenario: I imported a database, and specified the name of the imported database in a connection string. This failed to connect with the login failed message, but worked when I connected via master and specified "Use Database" within my query as suggested by Il-Sung. When trying to generate database diagrams I was then told that the database did not have a valid owner, but when I right clicked on the databse properties an owner (sa) was listed. However, when I looked at the files owner, there was none specified. To correct this problem in SQL Sever 2005, do the following:

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio
2. Expand Databases
3. Right Click on the Database with problems and choose 'Properties'
4. Left Click the 'Files' node
5. Ensure that an appropriate owner is listed, if none is then set it That resolved the issue with the database that I had this error with. Hope this helps, Nick

• Anonymous
  March 05, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 13, 2007
  What is the corresponding error in the server's error log? Thanks, Il-Sung.

• Anonymous
  March 14, 2007
  Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. I'm getting this error trying to connect a service to the database and the user I've verified has access to the database that it's trying to connect to.  Is there something I need to do differently for a service?  The service is related to MOSS 2007.  It's the Microsoft Single Signon Service.  Any suggestions? Thanks Robert

• Anonymous
  March 14, 2007
  I am getting this same error as Error number 18452 Severity 14 State 1 with SQL2005, Windows Authentication ONLY. My user is permitted on the server, I can connect with Management Studio. No space in ServerName, Windows firewall disabled. The calling program is Delphi5

• Anonymous
  March 18, 2007
   I'm seeing error state 23 repeatedly in my logs: “Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 23.”  Despite some scouring of the Web and MSDN I could find no information about this one.  Please  post the answer if possible.

• Anonymous
  March 26, 2007
  State 23 is pretty rare.  What this means is the server was in the process of shutting down and at the same time some user was trying to log in.  SQL blocks new users from logging in when the server is shutting down.  So if you have fairly consistent logins I would expect to see this one from time to time when the server is shut down, it's harmless.

• Anonymous
  March 29, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 30, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 01, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 02, 2007
  The username and password you pass in as -U and -P are SQL Server usernames and passwords, not Windows usernames and passwords. So you cannot say: sqlcmd -S machine_name -U machine_nameuser_name -P user_password If you want to log in as a specific Windows user, then you need to shell a command prompt as that user and use: sqlcmd -S machine_name -E You can shell a cmd prompt by using the RunAs command, like so: C:>runas /user:machine1user1 cmd.exe Enter the password for machine1user1: Attempting to start cmd.exe as user "machine1user1" ... This will open a new cmd window and from there you can run sqlcmd -S server -E Matt

• Anonymous
  April 02, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 03, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 03, 2007
  Hi Fabrizio, Have you looked at the server's error log and determined the error state reported by the server as outlined above? Il-Sung.

• Anonymous
  April 15, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 16, 2007
  Hi, useful information, please add this to Books Online Thx

• Anonymous
  April 18, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 18, 2007
  I get this in the logs: Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 11. Did a scan through your blog page (very helpful, btw), but didn't see any recommendations for State = 11. Any suggestions?   Thx.

• Anonymous
  April 19, 2007
  States 11 and 12 simply mean the Windows user coming in does not have login access to the server.  SQL Server validated the Windows user's token, figured out who it is, but the Windows user has not been granted access to the server.

• Anonymous
  April 26, 2007
  Today it is all about security relating to SQL Server. The first session is being taught by a Software

• Anonymous
  May 07, 2007
  For State 11 - the login ID did not have a profile...I logged in to create the profile and all is right with the world!

• Anonymous
  May 08, 2007
  Hi.  I renamed my SQL Server 2005 machine (within the same domain), and any jobs (e.g. backups) I try to run from Mgt. Studio are now getting: 05/08/2007 03:28:04,Logon,Unknown,Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITYANONYMOUS LOGON'. [CLIENT: 10.70.40.55] 05/08/2007 03:28:04,Logon,Unknown,Error: 18456<c/> Severity: 14<c/> State: 11. I have done the sp_dropserver/sp_addserver (w/ local) dance.  This is a standalone server with no links.  Service accounts are all using SYSTEM. Any ideas what I can do to repair this?

• Anonymous
  May 19, 2007
  I m also facing the same problem while connecting the server in single user mode.. Error: 18461, Severity: 14, State: 1. Login failed for user 'sa'. Reason: Server is in single user mode. Only one administrator can connect at this time. [CLIENT: <local machine>]

• Anonymous
  May 20, 2007
  Hi, I tried to log in Database engine but it doesn't allow me to.  It keeps giving me this message: An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server.  When connecting to SQL Server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections. (provider: TCP Provider, error: 0 - No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.) (.Net SqlClient Data Provider) I have no idea how to fix this problem. Could you please help me out? Thanks.

• Anonymous
  May 20, 2007
  Hi.  I have a problem with my connection. I checked the error log, it shows: 2007-05-19 22:19:27.47 Logon       Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 11. 2007-05-19 22:19:27.47 Logon       Login failed for user 'SQLServerAndy'. [CLIENT: <local machine>] Please help to solve this problem. Thanks so much.

• Anonymous
  May 21, 2007
  Hi,Satish   Can you be more specific how you create the login and how you make connection by using which authentication, basically, the full connection string. Thanks! Ming.

• Anonymous
  May 22, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 24, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 26, 2007
  Ok, I just installed Sql Server Deveplopment Edition along with SP2 on Vista. The login method chosen at the time of installation was Windows Authentication. Installation was successful but I can not connect to Database engine and keep getting "Login failed for user" with State being 11 (sql error log). The sql server related services are running under LocalSystem account. Any ideas?

• Anonymous
  May 26, 2007
  Figured out :) The Sql Server 2005 needed to be run as Administrator. Dang it - Vista !!

• Anonymous
  May 30, 2007
  Error 18456 Severity 14 State 16 SQL 2005 SP2 Mixed Mode Failed login is a domain account but the error message says the client is <local machine> Also, the failed login successfully logs in many times during the day. There are no error messages in the SQL Agent log, just the SQL Server logs. Profiler didn't pick up any unsuccessful logins(despite the login failure showing up every minute on the SQL Server logs). I've confirmed that the same user account successfully  logins to all of the databases that it's mapped to. No user complaints, just tons of failed login attempts in the SQL logs.   I'm stumped.

• Anonymous
  May 30, 2007
  Wow, I can't believe I resolved this issue by luck! I encountered this error on my local machine.   So what I did was ...

1.  Logon to SQL Server using windows authentication.
2.  Right click in the query window that appears and select "Open Server in Object Explorer"
3.  Go to object explorer and open the "Security" folder and then the "Logins" folder.
4.  Double-click the "sa" user and change the password.   Also, like another user mentioned above, untick the "Enforce Password Policy" in addition to resetting the password. Now if you will all excuse me,   I must go and play with myself.

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2007
  I am getting this erro when trying to connect to a sql exoress 2005 db throught vb.net on one of my pc's but not the other. Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. Assuming it is a permission problem, I created another DB on the PC that I cannot connect with & still cannot connect through the program. ANy suggestions would be appreciated. (I can be reached at gtinkel@profsft.com. Thanks

• Anonymous
  June 12, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 18, 2007
  I had an "Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 11." in the log, meaning SQL was authenticating ok, but Windows was not.  I am running Windows Vista.  It turned out I needed to right-click on my app and run as Administrator.  It now works fine.

• Anonymous
  June 19, 2007
  Hi, We use Sql Server 2000 SP4 on Windows 2000 SP4. The audit level is set to login failure for this server but we don't get any state informpation in the log file. here is an extract of the log file : 2007-06-19 15:45:02.45 logon     Échec de la connexion de l'utilisateur 'sa'. 2007-06-19 15:45:22.17 logon     Échec de la connexion de l'utilisateur 'sa'. 2007-06-19 15:45:35.07 logon     Échec de la connexion de l'utilisateur 'sa'. 2007-06-19 15:46:21.01 logon     Échec de la connexion de l'utilisateur 'sa'. Do you have an idea why I don't see any "state information" in the log file. I need this information to understand why I get this connection error. By the way, the connection is OK 99% of the time and Sql Server is used by an ASP web application. Best regards, Olivier

• Anonymous
  June 22, 2007
  I am getting this erro when trying to run jobs in SQL Agent. I have confirmed the login account used to start Agent is valid. The account also has sysadmin privs....Stumped... Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16.

• Anonymous
  July 03, 2007
  Like every one else, I was frustrated by the strange 18456 error with State=8. I store my password in a textfile, and when I need it, I do a copy and paste into the password field. I use a password something like "Ity@1%6$9#g". I tried a number of "strangies", but this one worked on more than one occasion: using the direction arrow key pointing left, I moved the cursor back to the beginning of the password. It worked! Try this at home, folks, it does not hurt a bit, and perhaps it might give the Microsoft boys a hint about the nature of the problem if you report the results. thanks bertie,this worked for me

• Anonymous
  July 04, 2007
  I discovered a few stepstones when connecting via JDBC to a locally installed SQLSever Express 2005 database. Here are my observations:Activate &quot;Accepting TCP/IP&quot; connections in the SQL Server Configuration Manager. Otherwise the SQLServer Expr

• Anonymous
  July 05, 2007
  Ralle, Yes, you are correct.  The Microsoft SQL Server 2005 JDBC driver requires SQL Server (any SKU) to have TCP/IP support enabled.

• Anonymous
  July 08, 2007
  I am also getting Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8 when my .NET 1.1 app attempts to log into the 2005 Server from a remote machine.  The app works against a 2000 Server. The password is correct, as the same login and password can be used to log into the 2005 server from the same remote machine with SSMS. The State: 8 is either bogus or too generic to be useful.  Any help?

• Anonymous
  July 11, 2007
  exec sp_password @new = 'sqlpassword', @loginame = 'sa' alter login sa with password = 'sqlpassword' unlock, check_policy = off, check_expiration = off

• Anonymous
  July 13, 2007
  Jaap@myprovider.com- THANKS! Don't know why that worked, but it did, and I thank you.

• Anonymous
  July 17, 2007
  In Windows Vista: All Programs -> Microsoft SQL Server 2005 -> (Right Click) SQL Server Management Studio -> Run as administrator

• Anonymous
  July 17, 2007
  Hi, Hermann    What operation you did after you click SSMS? It seems you need to first type the target server name and credential to login then connect.   Can you provide the error message say " 18456  Level ?? State ??" to help us identify the problem. Thanks! Ming.

• Anonymous
  July 17, 2007
  Hi, Hermann    Please check out the following blog:  http://blogs.msdn.com/sql_protocols/archive/2007/06/18/connecting-to-sql-server-2005-on-vista-and-longhorn.aspx or install Yukon SP2, find out the article in Books online "How to: Connect to SQL Server from Windows Vista" for the issue understanding and resolution. Good Luck! Ming.

• Anonymous
  July 17, 2007
  Hi, Hermann    Please check out the following blog:  http://blogs.msdn.com/sql_protocols/archive/2007/06/18/connecting-to-sql-server-2005-on-vista-and-longhorn.aspx or install Yukon SP2, find out the article in Books online "How to: Connect to SQL Server from Windows Vista" for the issue understanding and resolution. Good Luck! Ming.

• Anonymous
  August 01, 2007
  PingBack from http://sql.khanzhin.info/?p=9

• Anonymous
  August 07, 2007
  I'm getting Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16 at startup. I have a windows service that depends on SQLServer (Express) and tries to login using the 'Transactor' account. This fails at startup but I can login and start the service manually and it's fine. I would really appreciate some help with this, it wouldn't be a stretch to say I'm floundering. ERRORLOG follows: 2007-08-08 14:18:39.25 Server      Authentication mode is MIXED. 2007-08-08 14:18:39.25 Server      Logging SQL Server messages in file 'c:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL ServerMSSQL.1MSSQLLOGERRORLOG'. 2007-08-08 14:18:39.25 Server      This instance of SQL Server last reported using a process ID of 2260 at 8/08/2007 2:14:43 p.m. (local) 8/08/2007 2:14:43 a.m. (UTC). This is an informational message only; no user action is required. 2007-08-08 14:18:39.25 Server      Registry startup parameters: 2007-08-08 14:18:39.25 Server       -d c:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL ServerMSSQL.1MSSQLDATAmaster.mdf 2007-08-08 14:18:39.25 Server       -e c:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL ServerMSSQL.1MSSQLLOGERRORLOG 2007-08-08 14:18:39.25 Server       -l c:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL ServerMSSQL.1MSSQLDATAmastlog.ldf 2007-08-08 14:18:39.28 Server      SQL Server is starting at normal priority base (=7). This is an informational message only. No user action is required. 2007-08-08 14:18:39.28 Server      Detected 2 CPUs. This is an informational message; no user action is required. 2007-08-08 14:18:39.43 Server      Using dynamic lock allocation.  Initial allocation of 2500 Lock blocks and 5000 Lock Owner blocks per node.  This is an informational message only.  No user action is required. 2007-08-08 14:18:39.50 Server      Database mirroring has been enabled on this instance of SQL Server. 2007-08-08 14:18:39.50 spid5s      Starting up database 'master'. 2007-08-08 14:18:39.64 spid5s      Recovery is writing a checkpoint in database 'master' (1). This is an informational message only. No user action is required. 2007-08-08 14:18:39.78 spid5s      SQL Trace ID 1 was started by login "sa". 2007-08-08 14:18:39.79 spid5s      Starting up database 'mssqlsystemresource'. 2007-08-08 14:18:39.79 spid5s      The resource database build version is 9.00.3042. This is an informational message only. No user action is required. 2007-08-08 14:18:39.96 spid5s      Server name is 'TXWC02'. This is an informational message only. No user action is required. 2007-08-08 14:18:39.96 spid5s      Starting up database 'msdb'. 2007-08-08 14:18:39.96 spid8s      Starting up database 'model'. 2007-08-08 14:18:40.09 spid8s      Clearing tempdb database. 2007-08-08 14:18:40.32 Server      A self-generated certificate was successfully loaded for encryption. 2007-08-08 14:18:40.32 Server      Server is listening on [ 'any' <ipv4> 1433]. 2007-08-08 14:18:40.32 Server      Dedicated administrator connection support was not started because it is not available on this edition of SQL Server. This is an informational message only. No user action is required. 2007-08-08 14:18:40.32 Server      The SQL Network Interface library could not register the Service Principal Name (SPN) for the SQL Server service. Error: 0x54b, state: 3. Failure to register an SPN may cause integrated authentication to fall back to NTLM instead of Kerberos. This is an informational message. Further action is only required if Kerberos authentication is required by authentication policies. 2007-08-08 14:18:40.32 Server      SQL Server is now ready for client connections. This is an informational message; no user action is required. 2007-08-08 14:18:40.53 Logon       Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. 2007-08-08 14:18:40.53 Logon       Login failed for user 'Transactor'. [CLIENT: 10.20.1.179]

• Anonymous
  August 08, 2007
  Campbell, thanks!  for state 11, running as administrator worked.

• Anonymous
  August 09, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 09, 2007
  Matt I'm assuming your comment is directed at my post. I understand what State=16 means, the issue is that it is only occurring when the machine is booting. My Windows service has a dependency on SQLServer so starts only after SQLServer has started. However I consistently get a login failure at boot time but when I subsequently login the Windows service can be started manually without any problem. I guess what I'm looking for is feedback on whether there is a workaround for this issue. I have seen a number of posts on the web about the issue but I haven't yet seen a good solution. The one solution I have seen is modifying the dependent service to loop with a delay for a period while trying to connect at startup. This is not a solution that will work for my environment as the Windows Service is a third party product (and no I cannot go back to the vendor and ask them to insert a delay at startup).

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 16, 2007
  This can happen for example if your company has auditing software running and checking if your SQL Server has weak passwords.  I see this periodically on my network.  Our IT group has a process that scans for SQL Servers and then attempts to log into these using weak sa passwords to detect insecure SQL Servers. Look at the source ip address and run ping -a <ip> to determine the source of the requests.

• Anonymous
  September 04, 2007
  Hi, We've currently in the process of changing web hosts, and are having to move our databases to SQL Server 2005. In a trial run we tried to copy a database from our local SQL Server 2000 development machine to our hosted SQL Server 2005 machine. We got a 'login timeout' error when the package was being built. So, having installed SQL Server 2005 Developer edition on my local machine we're running tests trying to use the copy database wizard to copy a database between two SQL Server 2005 machines. We've had ports opened on both firewalls for this traffic, and have ensured that remote connections are allowed. We've located the error logs, and the following error is listed: Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8. Now, thanks to this article I understand that this is a password mis-match, but what I don't understand is why! The passwords have been entered correctly (including case). I've tried changing the password via the Management Studio, and other suggestions here, but still no joy.  This is delaying our migration of sites and databases. If we just import the data from the existing server to the new one we lose all Primary Key information, and any defaults set for certain fields - information we need to retain as we bring the databases back to the local machine on a regular basis as part of our backup strategy. Can you help us to get this working? Thanks

• Anonymous
  September 16, 2007
  I received this error message also after deleting/renaming the default database of the login concerned. After resetting the default database of the login, it's fine.

• Anonymous
  September 16, 2007
  ...or if the default database is not set. (SQL 2005 Server Manager, Connect to Server with Admin --> Object Explorer --> Server --> Security --> Logins --> context menu on Login concerned --> Properties --> General

• Anonymous
  October 03, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 04, 2007
  I just want to say Thank you Your table lead me straight to the source of my issue and I was able to fix it within 2 minutes.

• Anonymous
  October 10, 2007
  We have deleted one of the sharepoint portal from our sharepoint server along with the database. after deletion of the portel, we are continiously receiving the below event in our SQL 2005 server every 5 minutes. 2007-10-10 20:54:18.35 Logon       Login failed for user 'SERWIZSOLSvc-Sharepoint'. [CLIENT: 10.64.130.160] 2007-10-10 20:54:18.37 Logon       Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16.

• Anonymous
  October 12, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 17, 2007
  I am getting an Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 11. when my users are triing to make an ODBC connection to SQL 2005 STD from Acess 2007. I have sqitched the SQL server from Windows Authentication mode to SQL server and Windows Authentication mode, this did not help. Any ideas? Thank you.

• Anonymous
  October 23, 2007
  PingBack from http://ghillie-suits.info/?p=23716

• Anonymous
  November 02, 2007
  I have added the sqlserver 2005 instance using sp_addlinkedserver. And when I try to use the linked server inside my query it says login failed for user 'sa'. When I checked at the error log on remote server(where the SQL Server 2005 is installed) the State was 8. But I am able to connect to the SQL Server instance from Mgmt Studio Express and also using openrowset distributed queries. Can I know the actual problem?

• Anonymous
  November 07, 2007
  I am getting Error 18456 State 8 sporadically for many users. Sometimes they can log on OK, and sometimes not, using the same password. The logins and passwords were migrated from SQL2000 using sp_help_revlogins. If I change the password, they can log on using the new password, but later that same new password is rejected. If they try again later, it may work again!

• Anonymous
  November 13, 2007
  I'm having the same problem as Ken.  My databases were restored to sql 2005 server and are in 2000 compatibility mode.  Usually the logins work but occasionally for no apparent reason I get Error 18456 State 8.  I know the password is correct as it is coming from the config file and not changing. I tried deleting the users and recreating them by hand but still have the same sporadic problem.

• Anonymous
  November 13, 2007
  SQL Server build is 9.0.3159 by the way

• Anonymous
  November 14, 2007
  Hello, I have the same error. What is stange is that the ODBC connection was working last week when I used it and today when I tried again it failed... Any corruption? Thanks,

• Anonymous
  November 15, 2007
  Hello I have the error 18456 with any users when one specific user is login in to the PC only??? Test1 on PC 1: User A log to the PC ODBC with UserA is fine ODBC with UserB is fine User B log to the PC ODBC with UserB failed error 28000-18456 ODBC with UserB failed error 28000-18456 Test1 on PC 2 User A log to the PC ODBC with UserA is fine ODBC with UserB is fine User B log to the PC ODBC with UserB is fine ODBC with UserB is fine What is going on??? Thanks Dominique

• Anonymous
  November 18, 2007
  We have this strange Error: [298] SQLServer Error: 18456, Login failed for user 'DomainDOMAINAdministrator'. [SQLSTATE 28000] We have windows authentication turned on this happens on a MOSS Server with SQL Server 2005

• Anonymous
  November 21, 2007
  hi all, i have encountered this login failed error with State 1 using SQL Server 2000. What does state 1 indicate? While using the server explorer i had to make a connection where i encountered this error message. Please mail me the replies asap to dency_opus911@yahoo.com

• Anonymous
  November 25, 2007
  Hello, I have read technet forum about this error but I still have no answer about state 12. I have tried to give all permissions that I know for 'testlogin' except sysadmin and it has no effect! Please help!

• Anonymous
  November 27, 2007
  I have an Error -18456 but no state level given. It just states Login failed to user. Microsoft SQL server Error-18456. I am trying to get access to sql server authentication mode. While I am able to get access to windows authentication mode. I made shure to choose Mixed authentication mode while installing my sql server 2005 software. Can any one help me thanx.

• Anonymous
  November 27, 2007
  I have an Error -18456 but no state level given. It just states Login failed to user. Microsoft SQL server Error-18456. I am trying to get access to sql server authentication mode. While I am able to get access to windows authentication mode. I made shure to choose Mixed authentication mode while installing my sql server 2005 software. Can any one help me thanx.

• Anonymous
  November 27, 2007
  I think you will find that you have a sql security group or user which has a default database set which it no longer has access to. If you look in the logs are you getting a successful login followed immediately by a failed login? that's what I had and it was a local group that the user was a member of which had that error. Gave public access to the db and done.

• Anonymous
  November 28, 2007
  All I just received the same error and found the problem was related to Reporting Services.  You may want to open SQL Server Configuration Manager, shutdown reporting services and retry the sqlcmd. I am not certain if this has been mentioned.  I am running Enterprise on Win2003 server.   Good luck.

• Anonymous
  December 06, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  December 10, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  December 12, 2007
  I get the error code 18456 connection failed then 2000 for one of my employees but it only occurs when loggin in to one specific computer. She can log in under all other computers.

• Anonymous
  December 13, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  December 13, 2007
  I receive this error in the following scenario: A user account had acces to 2 databases on the same SQL server via windows group membership. I deleted the first database (and the corresponding log in) between the time the user had logged on to the domain and the starting of the "SQL server management studio". The connection to the SQL Server was made trough the memebership of the group of wich the login was deleted. Solution: User logged off and on (windows) and the correct group was used to connect to the SQL server.

• Anonymous
  December 20, 2007
  Re all the questions about state 16, I don't know if they are related but I was seeing intermittent state 16 errors, but just before they started a transaction log full error was written to the log.  Truncating and shrinking appears to have solved this.

• Anonymous
  December 21, 2007
    Please I need your help                    Thank you!

• Anonymous
  December 27, 2007
  Hi, we are getting this error with Serverity: 14 and State: 8. We don't understand the reason why this error only has appear today but with a several number of users. Could someone help us? Thank you!

• Anonymous
  January 03, 2008
  Hi, I keep getting this error too. But I can't get into the error log file to see what state it is. It keeps telling me that access is denied. I've even created an everyone permission with full control and that didn't fix my issue. Then I created a whole new username/login and that keeps getting the same results. Any suggestions? I'm running Windows Server 2003 & SQL Server 2005.

• Anonymous
  January 03, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 03, 2008
  Alright, we've fixed the problem with connecting with SQL Server. User can now successfully Open and connect using Management Studio. I checked the directory for where the error log should be but when I hover my mouse over the folder, it tells me that the folder is empty (and I can't access it). Just to double check, does this sound like a correct path for the errorlog: C:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL ServerMSSQL.1MSSQLERRORLOG [Should be here] Because it's not there. Thanks for your help by the way.

• Anonymous
  January 10, 2008
  I created a login and assigned it to the sysadmin role on my local server, after which I restared the server. Also, I changed the max number of concurrent users allowed to 1. Now when I try connecting to the server, I get the error message, 'Connection was successfully established with server but an error occured durin the login process'. When I check the error log the following is noticed "Error: 17809, Severity: 20, State: 3. Could not connect because the maximum number of '1' user connections has already been reached. The system administrator can use sp_configure to increase the maximum value. The connection has been closed." I tried changing the max number of user connections allowed by using sqlcmd utility. In the command prompt it says value changed from 1 to 10, but when i try to log in to the server i get the same old error.

• Anonymous
  January 15, 2008
  Where can I find a complete list of Error State for Error 18456? If there is no such list, I hope the table in this blog will be updated to include common error states such as State 16.

• Anonymous
  January 15, 2008
  I can duplicate Error State 5 and 8.  How to duplicate Error State 2 and 9?

• Anonymous
  January 16, 2008
  01/15/2008 12:11:53 ERCreateSiteWizard[16f4:17d0]:  ----Storage,0: [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Error de inicio de sesión del usuario 'sa'. [18456] Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8 Errror this does not allow me to connect to SQL Server 2005. This connection is made by COM ports. Someone has an idea? my e-mail: luis.rivera@nasoft.com

• Anonymous
  January 16, 2008
  I'll try to get the full list posted here. Also, you guys know about the security ring buffer in SQL 2005 SP2, read this: http://blogs.msdn.com/lcris/archive/2007/02/19/sql-server-2005-some-new-security-features-in-sp2.aspx

• Anonymous
  January 16, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 24, 2008
  I believe we have an answer for the Severity: 14 and State: 16, while using SharePoint Server 2007. While attempting to enable SSO for the first time, if you fail to configure the Microsoft Single Sign-on Service with the proper 'Service Account' you will get an error. It seems that SharePoint creates a job looking for the 'SSO' database, even though it failed to create it - reason for State:16. Steps we took to correct the issue:

1. Opened Windows Services
2. Configured Microsoft Single Sign-on Service to use the proper account
3. Opened Central Administration >> Operations >> Manage settings for single sign-on
4. Configured properties to use the same account used for Microsoft 'Single Sign-on Service' The database (SSO) was created successfully and all the Error: 18456 went away. Hopefully this works for all of you that were experiencing the same issue.

• Anonymous
  January 29, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 29, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 01, 2008
  Hi, After we upgrade some dev instances to SQL 2005 SP2 build 3215 i got the error when trying to connect with SQL authentication (Windows Authent is working for me, but not for others). I cannot assure somebody didnt type a wrong password. But after a while, everything is working fine again.... Is there a process that locks the connection on an instance after a failed logon attempt ????

• Anonymous
  February 03, 2008
  If you are running it on Vista, select "Run as Administrator" by pop-up menu (right click).

• Anonymous
  February 03, 2008
  After looking for a solution for my problem with state 11 for a while I have several times stumbled over a solution for you who uses Vista and XP as your platform for SQL. Might be helpful for other states as well. -Turn off "simple file-sharing" using Control panel->folder options-> view

• Anonymous
  February 06, 2008
  We have also a login problem but its sporadic. We use SQL Server 2005 SP2 on Windows 2003. The Client use ODBC through SQL Server native Client. What can we do to search a solution? Its important for use because every time we get this error the Client application crash.

• Anonymous
  February 06, 2008
  plz delete and forgot my reply. i have not complete read my error picture. sorry.

• Anonymous
  February 08, 2008
  sql server configuration manager - Enable TCP/IP and named pipes; by default these settings are disabled because of security settings; I tried and it worked for me :)

• Anonymous
  February 12, 2008
  Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. I found the other posts very helpful.  Using Windows authentication on a local admin account which had sql 2005 sysadmin privileges, our install scripts would intermittently fail.  The scripts would detach, copy and attach mdfs from one server to a different server.  Sometimes it worked.  Sometimes it failed.   What needed to be done is to refresh/resynchronize Server metadata with database metadata.  Critically important, it seems, is to re-establish a link between the database owner of the newly attached db to an existing server login.   The upgrade scripts were obviously erroneous in this regard and this bug, which existed for YEARS and was latent from versions SQL 7.0 through SQL 2000, decided to announce its presence in the data migration from SQL 2000 to SQL 2005. Thanks to everyone who have taken the time to contribute.  It helped alot.

• Anonymous
  February 26, 2008
  Here's a different twist. I am running SQL Server 2005 and using Netapp storage devices for the databases. As a part of the configuration I have a seperate connection to the netapp devices using a VLAN on the switch. This connection is where all communications between the netapp and the windows OS happens for controlling disk IO. I just discovered that my System Administrator account is attempting to authenticate over the Netapp data connection rather than over the primary LAN connection. The only other database that I have running seems to be working just fine. I was attempting to install a new application which would fail when it tried to create the database due to a login failure. The 'data' vlan is not routed at all so it was unable to authenticate against the DC and the install/create db failed. Is there a way to tell SQL Server to only use the primary LAN connection to authenticate with the DC? This is a rather truncated question as I realize that I have left out a lot of detailes - this is in the interests of brevity. If anyone has any ideas about this and would like more information I will provide more details as necessary. Basically I have two NICS functioning on two diferent Networks and want to be sure that SQL server only looks to a specific NIC/LAN for authentication. Thanks in advance for any assistence someone/anyone can provide. Charlie

• Anonymous
  February 29, 2008
  Hello, I have a question.  We have two SQL 2005 boxes in our dev environment.  Our Active Directory is housed on a SBS 2003 server, which has recently been rebuilt.  After we brought the rebuilt SBS server back online, we began to see weird permissions issues.  Currently, our SQL boxes use Windows Authentication and Kebros. The problem we're experiencing (seemingly after the SBS 2003 server rebuild) was that many of our linked server objects between the two SQL servers began to fail. The errors we're seeing are: Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITYANONYMOUS LOGON'.  Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 11. The Linked Server properties are set to use the "login's currentl security context", meaning you should be connecting across servers as yourself (windows authentication).  All of this worked last week, but after the SBS rebuild its all failing.  Any ideas?

• Anonymous
  March 04, 2008
  Hi, Patrick I would recommend you check out Nan's blog entry on this error for linked servers: http://blogs.msdn.com/sql_protocols/archive/2006/08/10/694657.aspx Since you recently rebuilt your Active Directory server and don't indicate that you changed anything in the SQL Server instances, I would first:

1. Make sure that the Active Directory accounts that are used to log in to SQL Server do not have the following property set in Active Directory: Account is sensitive and cannot be delegated
2. Make sure that the Active Directory accounts that each SQL Server service runs under are trusted for delegation in Active Directory.

• Anonymous
  March 04, 2008
  Hi, Patrick I would recommend you check out Nan's blog entry on this error for linked servers: http://blogs.msdn.com/sql_protocols/archive/2006/08/10/694657.aspx Since you recently rebuilt your Active Directory server and don't indicate that you changed anything in the SQL Server instances, I would first:

1. Make sure that the Active Directory accounts that are used to log in to SQL Server do not have the following property set in Active Directory: Account is sensitive and cannot be delegated
2. Make sure that the Active Directory accounts that each SQL Server service runs under are trusted for delegation in Active Directory. Good luck! Dan

• Anonymous
  March 04, 2008
  Dan, Thanks.  I did just realize something, the links work when I remote desktop into the server and check the link to the other server...  They fail when I use SQL studio on my desktop and test the link objects.  That's a double-hop versus a single-hop, mentioned in the article you reference.... which makes it a Kebros problem I'm thinking.  I'm going to keep digging.  Let me know if you have any more ideas, and thanks for responding! Patrick-

• Anonymous
  March 05, 2008
  I have 18456 alternating between state 8 and 16. If I look at the user in my C# connection string in SQL Studio management, the password always changes to a default 15 chars password however many times I change it. The user's status is locked out and the checkbox is greyed so I can't change it.

• Anonymous
  March 13, 2008
  For State 11 errors the Domain account (DomainWinNTlogin for example) was accessing SQL Server fine and then at some point we experienced the State 11 errors (maybe related to Mirror Failover or some other issues on the server).  I had to drop the Account from the Local Admin group and this stopped the errors occurring and then I added the account back in to the Local Admin group and errors did not return.

• Anonymous
  March 21, 2008
  thanks for a well written instructions

• Anonymous
  April 14, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 15, 2008
  This wasn't the exact answer, but it led to my solution.  Thanks!

• Anonymous
  April 19, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 29, 2008
  Hi there, I've written a service that connects to a SQL-Server 2005 (Express) database. The service works fine but two times a day I receive an error: Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16 Login failed for user 'wtime'. [CLIENT: <local machine>] The error mostly occurs at 9:30 pm and 2:00 am but not always. May a backup-program cause the problem. I read that maybe the database is offline at the moment, but how could this be if this were the reason? After getting this error, the service itself tries to connect to the db as long as neccessary, and so I was able to see in the log files that the db is not available for just about 1 min, after this period of time the service is able to reconnect to the database again. I also found an article describing how to disable a service-job that cleans up no more used sessions, but no jobs are running on the sql-server. Let me know if you have any ideas to solve the problem.

• Anonymous
  April 30, 2008
  Is the SQL Express offline at that time? If so, it's a by-design behavior for SQL Express. Please check this forum post see if it applies to your case. http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=309672&SiteID=1 Thanks, Xinwei

• Anonymous
  May 01, 2008
  Hi Xinwei, no, I don't think the SQL-Express is offline or idle at that time, nothing in the log implies to that: 2008-04-30 01:49:51.89 spid51      Starting up database 'wtimserv'. 2008-04-30 01:51:07.48 spid51      Starting up database 'wtimserv'. 2008-04-30 01:53:38.28 spid51      Starting up database 'wtimserv'. 2008-04-30 01:54:53.98 spid51      Starting up database 'wtimserv'. 2008-04-30 01:59:56.93 spid51      Starting up database 'wtimserv'. 2008-04-30 02:11:13.81             Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16 2008-04-30 02:11:13.81             Login failed for user 'wtime'. [CLIENT: <local machine>] 2008-04-30 02:11:16.81 spid51      Starting up database 'wtimserv'. 2008-04-30 02:14:58.34 spid51      Starting up database 'wtimserv'. 2008-04-30 02:18:45.73 spid51      Starting up database 'wtimserv'. 2008-04-30 02:20:01.32 spid51      Starting up database 'wtimserv'. 2008-04-30 02:23:47.46 spid51      Starting up database 'wtimserv'. hmmm... or is it idle and the "Starting up database" - Message is a keep alive signal?

• Anonymous
  May 18, 2008
  PingBack from http://forum.masterdrive.it/database-48/mssql-ms-sql-2005-a-26335/#post125491

• Anonymous
  May 28, 2008
  I got this message again and again, to say my sql server is full of this error... Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM'. [CLIENT: <local machine>] As suggested I checked Sql Server logs which says Error: 18456 Severity :14  State :16 Recently I took some of the databases offline which we were not using. But when I checked that login 'NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM' has access to two databases which were taken offline I brought those two offline databases online, I hope the error might not occur again, and as of now I did not see any error message. Still fingures crossed. Thanks for the information.

• Anonymous
  June 12, 2008
  Where can I find the server's error log?

• Anonymous
  June 13, 2008
  By default, the error log is located at Program FilesMicrosoft SQL ServerMSSQL.nMSSQLLOGERRORLOG and ERRORLOG.n files. HTH

• Anonymous
  June 15, 2008
  My Severity 1 fix: I had to use SQL Server 2005 (Developer Edition) Surface Area Configuration and then "Add New Administrator" granting myself privileges on the next screen to log in (using Windows Authentication). Then I was good to go. Easy once you figure it out. I guess they were paranoid and didn't want to automatically assume that the person installing it would actually want to log in as administrator (?).

• Anonymous
  June 26, 2008
  Hey Guys, what is State 4 all about? Short information: We recently get the Error: 18456 State 4

• SQL Server 2005 Developer 64 Bit
• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise 64 Bit Well intersting Thing here is, that just the Active Directory Administrator can Login to the Server. We tryed several things: User with SQL Admin rights. -> No Effect Just the Active Directory Admin and Local Administrator can Login to the Databases. Also interesting, the Initializer and Controls could be controlled and the Login works great. But, there is no possibility for a Local or Remote Connection to the Datebases. Activating Romte Connection Functionality -> No Effect Ok we tryed a lot of stuff. Then we installed the SQL Server again in Mixed Authentication Mode. Ports in the Router are opened. And the first effect anyone can now login! But no Remote connection possible. So we found out, that the Software Firewall in Windows Server 2k8 blocked the SQL Server. So this is easy. So now everything is working correct an we can work with it. But 2 questions still remains: First, what is that State 4 Thing all about. And please no internal Error Comment! Why can just the Active Directory Administrator login? And why have be as creative as that to get a workaround? patric.boscolo@studentprogram.de Microsoft Student Partners Germany

• Anonymous
  July 10, 2008
  My id "sa" is going disable several times when i go to connect the database in sql server 2005

• Anonymous
  July 21, 2008
  PingBack from http://dotnetolympians.wordpress.com/2008/07/22/login-failed-error-msg-18456-sql-server-2005-login-failed-for-user-nt-authorityanonymous-logon/

• Anonymous
  July 28, 2008
  I had this problem with state #8 (Password mismatch). I removed the "Enforce password policy" and now it's working. My password was not wrong. If I pasted it in the login form on the server it would work, and if I pasted on my PC it would not. Until I uncheck this option. Sorry but this is a bug! Lost hours for this...

• Anonymous
  July 29, 2008
  hello, mymyspace is blocked please help me unblock it

• Anonymous
  July 30, 2008
  I'm tring to connect one server application with string "Provider=SQLNCLI;Server=195.22.3.218;Database=userdb;Uid=sa;Pwd=xyz;" Then The folowing error message is showing.... Unable to initilize MSSQL           <mssql_error:IDispatch error #3149:Login failed for user 'sa'.> Thanks in advance my emailid is:: smanohar@rmsindia.com

• Anonymous
  August 01, 2008
  Shyam,  You will need to go to the server that is running SQL Server, find the server's ERRORLOG file (located at something like: %ProgramFiles%Microsoft SQL ServerMSSQL.1INSTANCENAMELogERRORLOG), and get the State from the ERRORLOG file; then come back to this blog and compare the state with the states mentioned in the blog.  As this blog post points out, there are many potential causes for the "Login failed for user 'sa'" error message, but the state will pin down the exact root cause. Hope this helps! Dan Benediktson SQL Protocols

• Anonymous
  August 03, 2008
  Our application was running as a network service on a remote server (2003) and login to SQL was attempted with DomainServer$. Everything had worked fine for a long time, but on one day we ran into "Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 11." Finally the solution was to remove that login from SQL Server and recreate it - and everything started to work immediately. What could be the reason for this? Has something happened in AD that had broken the login. All the time Security Event Log created success audit events for the connection but SQL Server gave the error.

• Anonymous
  August 04, 2008
  hi.. i'm new using sql server.. and i have a problem to login:( i don't know what i have to do. i hope you can help me. regads... ps.. my english is bad... sorry:))

• Anonymous
  August 04, 2008
  Hi Esa, This coild happen if the SID of the login changed.  When the login is added to SQL the SID of the login account it used to store the identity of the account.  If the user is dropped and re-created in AD, then a new globally unique SID is generated.  Hence the old SID stored in SQL's security tables is no longer valid, you need to drop and re-create the login.  I'll double check with the security group to see if there is way to "refresh" the SID without having to drop and re-create the login.

• Anonymous
  August 05, 2008
  I  am getting "login failed" (Error 18456) error messages in SQL Server 2005 with no severity # and state #. I am unable to login into my college SQL server 2005 from home. Please help. Jyoti  

• Anonymous
  August 12, 2008
  Got this state 11 error.  removed the user from local admin which fixed the issue.

• Anonymous
  August 18, 2008
  *** Look Here **** If you are in VISTA right click on "run as administrator" and all will be well. Geez.

• Anonymous
  August 20, 2008
  hi (Login failed for user 'sa'. [CLIENT: 172.17.5.5] Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16.)  now ,I know that the meaning of state 16 is no permissions .but,i think that it's not possible about sa. i hope you can tell me the reason.

• Anonymous
  August 25, 2008
  State 16 is a little more general than no permissions: it means that login failed while trying to log in to the database specified in the connection string.  This can happen for a variety of reasons, the most common of which is that the user specified a database that they don't have permission to.  Another possibility, though, is that you've specified a database that doesn't exist: for instance, maybe you misspelled the database's name.  Another possibility would be that that database is in single-user mode. Hope this helps, Dan

• Anonymous
  August 25, 2008
  Thanks! however,this problem will appear  every 5 minute.

• Anonymous
  August 26, 2008
  MadMax said: *** Look Here **** If you are in VISTA right click on "run as administrator" and all will be well. Geez. Thanks MadMax, You saved my time...

• Anonymous
  August 26, 2008
  A common reason for Error is 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8. is in a development shop where the client is located in a domain and the server is not. In this case if your client is not configured to use TCP/IP you should also see corresponding errors on your Windows Server Security Audit Log - event id 529 - Unknown user name or bad password. The solution (in SQL2005) is to configure an alias that uses TCP as the preferred protocol. To do this go to SQL2005 ...-> Configuration Tools -> SQL Server Configuration Manager -> SQL Native Client Configuration -> Alias. Lookup SQL2005 for help with setting parameters. This should work for SQL2000 as well but the navigation path to set it up would be different.

• Anonymous
  September 11, 2008
  hi, My issue is exactly same which bluefang has posted earlier... (Login failed for user 'sa'. [CLIENT: 172.17.5.5] Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16.) Does anyone has a solution for this... Thanks

• Anonymous
  September 16, 2008
  We're seeing an issue in our environment where we have a .NET 1.1 web application on a Windows 2003 server machine and SQL Server 2005 on a Windows 2000 server machine.  In the application, we use SQL logins to connect to the db.  What we are seeing is, when a bad password is used at login, an error message is generated (login failed, state 8) in the event log which is what's expected, but then we continually see the same error message repeating for the next few hours as if the connection is still alive and retrying automatically.  Any ideas why?  Thanks

• Anonymous
  September 29, 2008
  I'm getting error 18456, severity 14, state 58.  I'm trying to use SQL Server Authentication.  Any info on what this might indicate.

• Anonymous
  October 01, 2008
  I too receiving the same error now a days on SQL Server 2005. where we can set this sa password after installations of server. Any help will be Appriciated.

• Anonymous
  October 02, 2008
  I have the same mistake that you: SQL query failed .. reason [Microsoft] [ODBC SQL Driver] [SQL Server] Login failed for user 'myuser' SQL statments... The system W.Vista Home edition. At the moment I believe that I khan fix the problem, login me again whenever I do to consultation, in fact if I make myself it does not give mistake, but it is to solution that I do not like.

• Anonymous
  October 13, 2008
  In a batch file, I am invoking sql script files in a loop. When each script file is run I am establishing a connection to SQLExpress instance and running script. Randomly it fails on one of the script file saying login failed. Every time it fails at different script file when i restart. Any idea, what could be the wrong?

• Anonymous
  October 14, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 15, 2008
  k and tareq,  Can you provide the full Login Failed error message from the SQL Server ERRORLOG?  That will contain a state, which as this blog post indicates is the important piece of information that tells why the login is failing.  Tareq, in your case, I think that state is from the client, since State 1 is the generic we send to the client to avoid information disclosure.  The server ERRORLOG file will have a different state.

• Anonymous
  October 27, 2008
  SQL Server 2005 e l'errore 18456 durate il logon

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2008
  I am building some reports using SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services, using a shared data source. The particular SQL authentication I need to use connects OK in the shared data source definition, but always fails with State: 8 when I plug the shared data source name into a report's dataset definition. I can put the credentials "locally", as it were, into a report and that's fine. Ultimately, though, I will want to schedule the reports with Report Manager so I need to get the shared data source working. I have tried this many many times: trust me the password IS correct! Any ideas, anybody?

• Anonymous
  November 03, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 10, 2008
  Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. Not Sure this has been mentioned..... Also noticed the error can be caused by SQL Jobs that reference databases that have been removed or taken offline. We've disabled the job in question and the error has gone away. You will need to remove the job or resolve the conflicts within the job.

• Anonymous
  November 20, 2008
  Why this msg has been written to the error log for specific servers only???

• Anonymous
  November 24, 2008
  Hi Guys! i am using Sql Server 2000 and getting this error in logs. 18456 : Login failed for user 'sa'. I am very much stuck as these failures cause sql server to stuck down frequently. I dont have information like IP address of attacker like in 2005, so i have no idea what to do. Please if any one have solution for it, please sort this problem out.

• Anonymous
  November 24, 2008
  Hope this helps. http://benojor.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!7D1B073C4B441563!170.entry

• Anonymous
  November 25, 2008
  I found that I had several jobs with incorrect parameters listed. Deleting these jobs eliminated the state 16 errors that were occurring every minute. While scrolling to end of this thread to add this information, I noticed Jeremy Bond said: "Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. Also noticed the error can be caused by SQL Jobs..." Should have read ALL posts in this thread before I spent an hour tracking down bogus login. Hope this eliminates some frustration for you.

• Anonymous
  December 04, 2008
  I am configuring Link Server for delegation between Server A and Server B. I am able to connect to both the servers from my workstation with auth_scheme 'KERBEROS'. I have created a link server on Server A for Server B with Security setting of "Be made using the login's current security context". When I run the query against the link the server I get the following error. Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 11. Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITYANONYMOUS LOGON'. [CLIENT: ??.??.??.??] My login exists on both the SQL Servers as SysAdmin. All help is appreciated.

• Anonymous
  December 04, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  December 05, 2008
  My issue is that I can't even create a link server successfully it throws the error Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITYANONYMOUS LOGON'. [CLIENT: ??.??.??.??] In my first post I may have hinted that the link server was created successfully but I can't do that. so for some reason it is not doing the security account delegation even though I am able to login to the server A and server B with 'KERBEROS'. The setting on the computer object in AD has also been set to "Trust for delegation". Any other setting that I may be missing.

• Anonymous
  December 05, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  December 05, 2008
  thanks for the information and I don't think I am faint of heart. #1 this I was told is only for the computer and not the service account. #2 "Account is sensitive and cannot be delegated" is not selected for the account I am using to run query across link server #3 my workstation can fully resolve the FQDN of the sql server. Verified by running ping -a <servername> $4 Done and verified by running setspn -L

• Anonymous
  December 05, 2008
  Also we do need security account delegation over the link server, this is for BizTalk setup. Secondly for #1 Account is sensitive and cannot be delegated is not selected for the service account.

• Anonymous
  December 09, 2008
  2008-12-09 12:46:05.59 Logon       Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. 2008-12-09 12:46:05.59 Logon       Login failed for user 'NEWMILLSCADARobert Hardin'. [CLIENT: 192.168.1.100] 2008-12-09 12:47:15.59 Logon       Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. 2008-12-09 12:47:15.59 Logon       Login failed for user 'NEWMILLSCADARobert Hardin'. [CLIENT: 192.168.1.100] 2008-12-09 12:48:25.60 Logon       Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. I get these eroors every ten seconds. I am not a databse expert, but a control systems engineer and have no idea how to fix this. Any help would be appreciated. Thank You, Tim

• Anonymous
  December 11, 2008
  Hello, I'm also getting State 16 errors on a SQL user, which has permissions to access the target database. And we're also using IIS (from an other server) to connect to the SQL server. As far as i've read correctly, this error can also occour when the database of (temporarely) offline / not available. But we have not taken the DB offline, so SQL server has some trouble accessing the DB itself. Is there any way to determine why the DB is offline/not accesable (logging?) other then using the USE DATABASE statement?

• Anonymous
  December 11, 2008
  we had the Error 18456. We followed the steps that described in the document and resovled the problem: http://www.fulltimedba.com/2008/12/11/Error18456Severity14State11.aspx

• Anonymous
  December 16, 2008
  I've been learning a few things about troubelshooting login problems over the last few months. I first

• Anonymous
  December 16, 2008
  I've been learning a few things about troubelshooting login problems over the last few months. I first

• Anonymous
  December 17, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  December 17, 2008
  Greg, You probably have other application or service(e.g. SQL Agent) running to turn the database into "single user" mode. You can use SQL Server Profiler to find out who did it. Please refer to BOL http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345598.aspx Thanks. Xinwei

• Anonymous
  January 04, 2009
  the sql server loging mode is set to windows authentication set it to sql authentication , to do this right click on the server in sql server managment> properties and then change the loging mode.

• Anonymous
  January 20, 2009
  PingBack from http://www.hilpers.com/350156-login-probleme-nach-update-auf

• Anonymous
  January 21, 2009
  PingBack from http://www.hilpers.it/2537843-accesso-con-autenticazione-sql-non

• Anonymous
  January 22, 2009
  If you got state 1 log_in failed message, you need to add some SQL privileges to the account you've logged in with. Go to  SQLServerManagementStudio Configuration Tools SQL Server Surface Area Configuration Add new Administrator Add the two privileges on the left to your account (which you are logged in with)

• Anonymous
  January 26, 2009
  dear Xinwei, the problem posted on 12-17 continues to happen with regularity.  your information says to use 'sql profiler' to figure out who, or what process, is mysteriously changing the database status to 'single user' mode. question 1.  is 'sql profiler' available for sql 2005 express?  if so, where, or how does one find, or install it? question 2.  if 'sql profiler' is only available with sql 2005 standard (or higher).  how would one setup sql profiler for sql 2005 standard? question 3.  in speed reading books online about 'sql profiler' it seems that one must know what events or sql commands to trace.  can you suggest how one would set the correct sql to look for that might set the database mode to single user mode?  ive seen there is a sql command that explicitly sets the database mode to single user, but ive also read that some built-in functions such as 'dbcc' might also set the database mode to single user.  who knows, perhaps there are many such functions...  how would you suggest i try to configure 'sql profiler' to detect what is changing the database mode to 'single user'? thanks alot

• Anonymous
  January 30, 2009
  hi, i am getting a sql error with state 5. how do i solve this? thanks!

• Anonymous
  February 03, 2009
  I have also encountered a couple of new States in SQL Server 2008:

• Login failed for user '<username>'. Reason: Failed to open the explicitly specified database. [CLIENT: <IP>] Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 38. This error occurs when the database specified as the initial catalog is unavailable (for security or otherwise). This was reported as a State 16 in SQL Server 2005.

• Login failed for user '<username>'. Reason: Failed to open the database specified in the login properties. [CLIENT: <IP>] Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 40. This error occurs when the users default database is unavailable. This was reported as State 16 in SQL Server 2005. Hope this helps someone else.

• Anonymous
  February 04, 2009
  After installing SP3 (KB955706) for SQL Server 2005 i got an: Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 11. in sqlservers logfiles. Eventlog just says Login failed for user '<username>'. [CLIENT: <local machine>] I used Windows Authentication in the 2005 Management Studio, the connection was working just fine before SP3. SOLUTION: Use "run as administrator" when starting Microsoft SQL Management Studio 2005. ENVIRONMENT: Vista Business - all recommended updates for SQL Server 2005 and Vista as of 2009-02-04 installed.

• Anonymous
  February 12, 2009
  what about state:0 ? I have this error and I dont know what happens: A connection was successfully established with the server, but then an error occurred during the login process. (provider: TCP Provider, error: 0 - Se ha forzado la interrupción de una conexión existente por el host remoto.) (.Net SqlClient Data Provider)

Program Location:   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection)   at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj)   at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParserStateObject.ReadSniError(TdsParserStateObject stateObj, UInt32 error)   at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParserStateObject.ReadSni(DbAsyncResult asyncResult, TdsParserStateObject stateObj)   at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParserStateObject.ReadPacket(Int32 bytesExpected)   at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParserStateObject.ReadBuffer()   at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParserStateObject.ReadByte()   at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.Run(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj)   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.CompleteLogin(Boolean enlistOK)   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.AttemptOneLogin(ServerInfo serverInfo, String newPassword, Boolean ignoreSniOpenTimeout, Int64 timerExpire, SqlConnection owningObject)   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.LoginNoFailover(String host, String newPassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance, SqlConnection owningObject, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, Int64 timerStart)   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.OpenLoginEnlist(SqlConnection owningObject, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, String newPassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance)   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds..ctor(DbConnectionPoolIdentity identity, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, Object providerInfo, String newPassword, SqlConnection owningObject, Boolean redirectedUserInstance)   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionFactory.CreateConnection(DbConnectionOptions options, Object poolGroupProviderInfo, DbConnectionPool pool, DbConnection owningConnection)   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.CreateNonPooledConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, DbConnectionPoolGroup poolGroup)   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.GetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection)   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.OpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory)   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.Open()   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.VSIntegration.ObjectExplorer.ObjectExplorer.ValidateConnection(UIConnectionInfo ci, IServerType server)   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.ConnectionDlg.Connector.ConnectionThreadUser() thanks a lot

• Anonymous
  February 15, 2009
  I would like to ask if my DTS run normally before and nothing change in DTS and scheduelr. However in one day that is error: SQL server Error string:  Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITYANONYMOUS LOGON' Please advise how to fix it

• Anonymous
  February 16, 2009
  One of my favorite errors that I get paged for is the login failed (error 18456). I have a few users

• Anonymous
  February 22, 2009
  Can some one let me know, what is the usual way to log in. Because whene ever I am trying to log in the same error (18456) is poping-up. I am unable to install the databases I have. I am in a need, help me.

• Anonymous
  February 26, 2009
  create bullitinadministrator use in sqlserver

• Anonymous
  March 02, 2009
  i am trying to take a database into a SQL Server 2008 Express Edition installation from a SQL Server 2005 Express Edition installation.  the application that uses this database was designed for deployment with MSDE 1.0 but i have tested it to work without issue with MSDE 2000 and SQL Server 2005 Express Edition.  unfortunately with 2008 i run into the following error: 2009-03-02 19:10:20.04 Logon       Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8. 2009-03-02 19:10:20.04 Logon       Login failed for user 'usrx'. Reason: Password did not match that for the login provided. [CLIENT: x.x.x.x] (note that it displays the right IP --> i just x'd it out) i know the password by heart having had to pickup supporting this product after its acquisition from a company that made no callbacks regardless of situation for months at a time.  i have manually, through the configuration utility, dropped the login/schema from the db and deleted it from the list of logins and then rebuilt through such without success.  have also done the following through a query without success: use MSDE_X exec sp_dropuser 'usrx' go use MSDE_X exec sp_droplogin 'usrx' go use MSDE_X exec sp_addlogin 'usrx', 'usrxpass', 'MSDE_X', 'english' go use MSDE_X exec sp_grantdbaccess 'usrx' go use MSDE_X exec sp_addrolemember 'db_owner', 'usrx' go can anyone tell me what i am missing?  i am testing this in a VMware install of XP w/SP3 and looking at the system with SQL Server 2005 Express Edition i can't see anything different between that setup and the 2008 setup... thanks in advance!

• Robert

• Anonymous
  March 03, 2009
  PingBack from http://www.eraofdata.com/blog/2009/01/loginfailures/

• Anonymous
  March 09, 2009
  I am running into the same Event Error 18456. I have a server 2003 in a clustered environment. I am simply trying to pull in an Excel spreadsheet using the following query: Select * from openrowset('MSDASQL','Driver={Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls)}; DriverId=790; Dbq=Template.xls;DefaultDir=S:Configuration;', 'Select * from [Locations$]') Openrowset is enabled. User: NT AuthorityAnonymous Logon Event Viewer Error: login failed for user 'nt authority anonymous logon' All rights have been assigned to the directory that the spreadsheet is in. Any suggestions?

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2009
  PingBack from http://www.dbforums.com/microsoft-sql-server/1639404-access-sql-server-remotely-pc-network.html#post6386806

• Anonymous
  March 16, 2009
  Hi I have a customer who recive the Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. this comes for both the domain users and for the SQL SA user and a SA user we creates on his server  they all have Serveradmin premissions Any good ideas on what to look for?

• Anonymous
  March 18, 2009
  Hello,i got a state 38 error,please help! Below is the error log: 2009-03-18 22:52:22.91 login         error: 18456，Severity: 14，state: 38。 2009-03-18 22:52:22.91 login          Login failed for user 'sa'.

• Anonymous
  March 22, 2009
  Also getting state 16 as of friday the 20th starting at 10:30am CET. Weirdly enough, afaik we didn't do anything to any account or system at that time. Have no idea what to do, it happens about twice per day and a quick restart of the sharepoint server and we're up again. The SQL is on a seperate server that's always online.

• Anonymous
  March 30, 2009
  I have just had a case of "State 1 login failure", that was caused by the fact that when I installed the SQL server, I was using a domain controller, but this has since been demoted so I don't use a domain controller anymore. Of course the logins that were registered as valid for maintaining the SQL server, and all other access was closed. I did an uninstall/reinstall to fix this. I should have seen this before demoting my domain controller, bud didn't, so here's a lesson to learn. This just to supply the information that this also can be a reason for the "State 1" failure. Peter

• Anonymous
  April 05, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 06, 2009
  I am getting a Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8 when attempting to login via Citrix but when I log in locally using the same password I am able to log in. Anyone ever experience this?

• Anonymous
  April 06, 2009
  I also encountered the Error 18456 Sev 14 State 16 on our MS Sql Server. At first i try to reset the password for my user but i have no success. But when I try again to look at the users properties having the error i found out that there is no default database assign for that user. I just assign a database and presto I can log on to my database. My Slotuion:

1. Log on using sa account.
2. Expand secuirity and logins.
3. Right click on the user account with login problem problem and choose properties.
4. On properties genral tab, you will see an drop down option for default database used for the account, choose a database for the account to used and click ok or apply then ok.
5. Log off on sa account and try to log in again. That solution works for me.

• Anonymous
  April 19, 2009
  can anybody please tell me what to do if i forget the admin password orhow to retrieve password

• Anonymous
  April 20, 2009
  Hi Parvathi,  If this is SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008, you can refer to this entry on Raul Garcia's blog, which details what to do if you have forgotten the SA password and have removed the built-inAdministrators group from the sysadmin server role: http://blogs.msdn.com/raulga/archive/2007/07/12/disaster-recovery-what-to-do-when-the-sa-account-password-is-lost-in-sql-server-2005.aspx

• Anonymous
  April 21, 2009
  My server is Win2003 with MSSQL2005 and hosted a site with good trafic. 5000 uniqe visitor per day. my Event Viewer application log section is full of this error warning: Login failed for user 'sa'. [CLIENT: 127.0.0.1] Event ID: 18456 My web application is working correctly. and I can use managment studio remotely or localy. with SA or with windows auth. But what is this error? Best Reg Ali

• Anonymous
  May 08, 2009
  I had the same problem. I have management studio installed on my desk and was building a disk cleanup maintenance plan for my sql server and would get an error as soon as I clicked 'save'. I couldn't understand why I was getting the error. Then I whent down to the data center where our server is located and I logged in to the physical server. I then created the maintenance plan there. This time I got No error! Now that I look back, it makes sense.

• Anonymous
  May 24, 2009
  If you have installed Windows SharePoint 3.0, "Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 38", caused SQLSERVERAGENT does not start. Set start mode for SQL Server Agent to automatic, fix this problem.

• Anonymous
  May 27, 2009
  What does category (4) in parentheses mean?

• Anonymous
  June 01, 2009
  PingBack from http://woodtvstand.info/story.php?id=15529

• Anonymous
  June 15, 2009
  PingBack from http://edebtsettlementprogram.info/story.php?id=21951

• Anonymous
  June 16, 2009
  PingBack from http://fixmycrediteasily.info/story.php?id=4174

• Anonymous
  June 18, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 22, 2009
  Hi I was getting same error mentioned by "angeli", when I connect to db server through SQL Management Studio. I used the technique mentioned by "Bertie", using back arrow key while selecting to copy password from a text file and it worked perfectly OK. Great tip Bertie, thanks.

• Anonymous
  June 24, 2009
  Hi all jst try this. I hope it ll solve all ur problems. -- SQL Query to Alter the [sa] login and reEnable it USE [tempdb] ALTER LOGIN [sa] WITH PASSWORD=N'123', DEFAULT_DATABASE=[master], DEFAULT_LANGUAGE=[us_english], CHECK_EXPIRATION=OFF, CHECK_POLICY=OFF GO ALTER LOGIN [sa] ENABLE @VHNG

• Anonymous
  June 27, 2009
  Heya!! Just Right click on microsoft SQL server Management Studio and run it as administrator. It worked for me!

• Anonymous
  July 01, 2009
  I have an ssis package writes data into sql server but gives me error Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8. Logon Failed for user. The userid is valid and works fine for other packages where I read data from sql server. The same userid and pwd are used across the appln where it works completely fine. Kindly help.

• Anonymous
  July 02, 2009
  Thanks SSG. Your suggestion has helped me to resolve my problem: SSG said: For State 11 errors the Domain account (DomainWinNTlogin for example) was accessing SQL Server fine and then at some point we experienced the State 11 errors (maybe related to Mirror Failover or some other issues on the server).  I had to drop the Account from the Local Admin group and this stopped the errors occurring and then I added the account back in to the Local Admin group and errors did not return.

• Anonymous
  July 31, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  August 02, 2009
  Hi, the problem is in settings DB server. This settings is> after right login on DB server on servername (Sql Server 10. ...) and select Properties Next step> Click on left panel, item Security and choice requestit value on group panel with SQL Authentication .. das ist ales  :))

• Anonymous
  August 05, 2009
  This is a VERY informative thread! I'm getting the Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8., but the situation doesn't make sense.  The application that is failing to connect uses an ODBC connection.  The ODBC connection succeeds in connecting to the database.  The application returns a failure to connect, however, and we see the State: 8 error in the SQL log for that user. One possible complication: We've moved this DB from SQL 2000 to SQL 2005 and have put the compatibility level at 90.  The vendor has told us that the version of SQL Server is irrelevant to their code. Any ideas? Thanks, Bob

• Anonymous
  August 25, 2009
  i m not able to connect my sql server 2005 database when i put username passoword then it show login failed.pls solve my problem

• Anonymous
  August 26, 2009
  Nisha, Your question is too general. Please follow the steps at http://blogs.msdn.com/sql_protocols/archive/2008/04/30/steps-to-troubleshoot-connectivity-issues.aspx?CommentPosted=true#commentmessage to troubleshoot and post question at: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/sqldataaccess/threads/ Thanks,

• Anonymous
  September 02, 2009
  Hi, Im getting the error Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 11. Now, i've read through all this and tried all the various options suggested. Essentially the I am using Windows Authentication. My user is in a functional group, which has access to the required sql server. Now, everyone else in my functional group can connect to the server without any issues, though I can not. I've asked the admin guys to remove me from the functional group, and re add me to it as suggested in one of the above comments. I've tried accessing it from a different machine, same login though, and I get the same error. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks

• Anonymous
  September 03, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  September 06, 2009
  i have a error 18456 how to solve it so send me answer to anirudhakumar.gupta@gmail.com

• Anonymous
  September 15, 2009
  Am getting this error " Error is 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8." and this problem is only when i try to connect my system from a Windows2008 machine. When i try to connect to the database from a Windows2003 or a VISTA machine it seems to be fine with the SAME USERNAME and PASSWORD. I also tried a simple ODBC connection from my Windows2008 machine and it works fine. Can you suggest me what the problem is????

• Anonymous
  September 29, 2009
  hi, I am getting State 16 errors. The windows account is the service account and has syadmin privileges. default db is master but master is fine

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2009
  I get the above mentioned error message when i try to logon to my application which connects to sql server database for checking login information.

• Anonymous
  October 06, 2009
  Error message i am receiving is Error NO:-2147217843, Native Error:18456 State:42000 Description: Login failed for user 'sa'[SQL-]

• Anonymous
  October 09, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 14, 2009
  I was getting the dreaded Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16 as well after moving a Database from one Sql server to another. The security on the database was setup with AD groups. The strange thing was: for users in certain AD groups everything worked fine. Others could not login anymore (even though they had all necessary permissions), and we got the State: 16 error. Turned out to be caused by the fact that the new server was in a different AD domain from the users and groups. - the AD groups that didn't work anymore were "Domain Local" groups ... which can't be seen from another domain, even though there is a trust (which makes perfect sense, but you have to think about it ;-). - The solution is to change the AD groups to "Global" groups (if possible, only domain local groups can hold user accounts from both domains) and/or create groups in the other domain and setup security on the DB for those as well. Just wanted to add this possible cause as it's a different angle yet from the others already mentioned here ;-)

• Anonymous
  October 22, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 28, 2009
  Maes eso es muy facil, solo deben de de dar clic derecho en el usuario para ver las propiedades, ver el estado del usuario y cambiar a enable

• Anonymous
  November 02, 2009
  When starting up my Server I always received the message with error state 4, because of a service trying to connect to a database which was not started at that time.

• Anonymous
  November 09, 2009
  start>run>"cliconfg">OK Enable NamedPipes and TCP.  Set Shared Memory to 'enabled'. Worked for me.

• Anonymous
  November 10, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 10, 2009
  You have follow these steps : go to Management studio/enterprise manager=>rightclick on it go to Properties => go to security => Server authentication=> select SQL Server  and windows authentication mode. That it. hope this will work for U. cheers

• Anonymous
  November 16, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 24, 2009
  This error can be also solved with:

• go to sql server
• right click on server, choose properties
• click on security
• on server authentication, enable SQL Server authentication also enable and configure password sa user for node security on serve tree.

• Anonymous
  November 25, 2009
  I get Severity: 14, State: 8 with a sprinkling of State: 5's against SQL2005 in a single domain. There are days where I don't get them at all but also days of plenty. I can see ONE error resulting from a mistyped password, but why do they keep going? Looking over some recent comments, I already have NamedPipes, TCP, and Shared Memory enabled for SQL, as well as SQL Server authentication. If "also enable and configure password sa user for node security on serve tree" means that the sa account should be enabled, ours isn't, but the errors never mention the sa account just a couple other accounts that are enabled and used.

• Anonymous
  December 03, 2009
  Finally figured out that it was the DSN file we use for linking Access to SQL tables. You want to use the Windows authorization flavor, so "Trusted_Connection=Yes" should be in it along with a UID pointing to a valid username, which will happen automatically when you go into Access and recreate the DSN choosing Windows authorization this time. Yes, you'll have to relink all your tables with this new file, but it's a small price to pay. Otherwise a plague of State 5's and 8's may be upon you when people do queries.

• Anonymous
  December 06, 2009
  This error can be also solved with:

• go to sql server
• right click on server, choose properties
• click on security
• on server authentication, enable SQL Server authentication also enable and configure password sa user for node security on serve tree. Goto SQL Server as in?

• Anonymous
  December 10, 2009
  I was getting error state 11 for a windows login. I looked at the sql server permissions and noticed that the Effective Permissions were missing ‘CONNECT SQL’ It was because the individual I was trying to add was part of a Active Directory Group that I wasn’t aware of, and that AD Group had “DENY CONNECT” The Deny took precedence over the individual login’s right to connect. I just dropped the login that had the Deny Connect. Problem solved. I also made the Domain Admins take him out of that group since the guy changed jobs.

• Anonymous
  December 18, 2009
  I just downloaded sql server express 2005,  I cannot connect to a server.  I have used the same login on two other computers with the same sql server express 2005, and it worked.   I even tried turning off the firewall and antivirus program.  Nothing works. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

• Anonymous
  January 05, 2010
  Actually I am tryint to install the billing software and connecting it with SQL Server whenever I try I get this below message. Unless I have done all the necessary steps including the Security tips but unable to connect. Please provide me support. (Microsoft SQL 2005 Server Express Edition) Unable to connect to server. Please check the SQL Server Authentication policy should be "SQL Server and Windows". To check please open SQL Enterprise Manager and look under Properties-->Security-->Authentication

• Anonymous
  January 19, 2010
  from security tab of the sa properties, clear "enforce password policy" and type the pasword of the sa twice again. now you should be able to connect.

• Anonymous
  January 30, 2010
  Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 1 would anyone know how to correct this error? What should I do?

• Anonymous
  February 01, 2010
  Thank you for the helpful post, Il-Sung Lee. I was able to determine, by looking at the SQL Server log, that the State was 8. Password mismatch. However, I have about 5 services running that access the local SQL Server instance, and there doesn't not seem to be any information in the log about which application/service attempted to login with an incorrect password. Is there a way, for example by using Process Monitor or somesuch tool, to know which Process ID tried to logon?

• Anonymous
  February 12, 2010
  I am trying to connect my client machine with sql server 2000 but the error thrown each time is Connection :failed SQL State : 28000 Sql Server Error : 18452 [microsoft][sql server driver][sql server][login failed for user null. Reason : not associated with the trusted sql server connection. This connection is functioning properly in 3 client machine but throwing error for two client machine. I have tried to change the above process described (Security-Login-----] and the second problem is its showing the name of server two times in the same list .. so is it conflicting with the server detection. Your valuable feedback is highly appreciated. thank you

• Anonymous
  February 19, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 24, 2010
  To check please open SQL Enterprise Manager and look under Properties-->Compatibility-->Privilege Level check the Run this program as an administrator

• Anonymous
  March 07, 2010
  Suddenly started receiving a log full of login failed messages with Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. This happens for any login where the default db is not explicitly stated. Explicitly stating the default db in the connection works fine, but should not be required in a correctly working server (so long as the default db is correctly set). The users are using domain login AND access is granted by an AD group. The group has the default database attribute set, the default database is online, and the users have access to no other databases by membership in any other group. I've also tried to rule out schemas without owners and SQL Agent jobs referencing db's that don't exist. I remain baffled. Any ideas what I'm missing or how to troubleshoot this? Cheers, Eric

• Anonymous
  March 10, 2010
  Hi dear, I am getting error 18456 after trying to log in,using windows authentication.What I have is sql server 2005, 90.It is installed on a window vista and I have been using it for ages. Any ideal what I can do to get connected? Thanks in advance! sam

• Anonymous
  March 10, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 02, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 09, 2010
  You just need to start the sql with admin previlage or run as administrator, hope should work.   Regards,

• Anonymous
  May 06, 2010
  There could be much more resions, as the original says.

1. Check the Server Property for the security configuration, If it is windows, bydefault SQL SA account should be disables.
2. Try to enable SA account
3. Match the password. 4)Make sure other login user the Secure (Connect to SQL Server)
4. and much more since the more error you get you have more solution to resolve that... See the BOL and other SQL forums.. regards, Manoj

• Anonymous
  May 26, 2010
  Hi, I'm getting Error:18456, Severity:14, State:1. Could any one help me on this issue. Thank you in advance, Jyothi

• Anonymous
  May 26, 2010
  Hi, I'm getting Error:18456, Severity:14, State:1. Could any one help me on this issue. Thank you in advance, Jyothi

• Anonymous
  May 30, 2010
  Hi.. i am using SQL Server 2008. server authentication is set to "SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode". when connecting using windows accounts everything is fine, but any attempt to connect as e.g. 'sa' fails with this 'State: 1' error message... greets, rm

• Anonymous
  May 31, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 04, 2010
  Who ever is facing any problem in sql while login in sql authentication mode, just try this trick, Step 1: Login in to windows authentication Step 2: Run following script: -- *********************************** -- SQL Query to Alter the [sa] login and reEnable it USE [tempdb] ALTER LOGIN [sa] WITH PASSWORD=N'123', DEFAULT_DATABASE=[master], DEFAULT_LANGUAGE=[us_english], CHECK_EXPIRATION=OFF, CHECK_POLICY=OFF GO ALTER LOGIN [sa] ENABLE -- *********************************** now close your SSMS and restart it and try to login again by userID 'sa' and pwd '123'... Enjoy... @BALA

• Anonymous
  June 06, 2010
  Logon,Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 58. Login failed for user ''. Reason: An attempt to login using SQL authentication failed. Server is configured for Windows authentication only. [CLIENT: <local machine>] State 58 means An attempt to login using SQL authentication , where Server is configured for Windows authentication only.

• Anonymous
  June 07, 2010
  Same problem here. Installed sqlserver locally to do some development testing. Wondering best way to setup permissions to get on the db.

• Anonymous
  June 10, 2010
  What if I have a state 11 error on a LAN?

• Anonymous
  June 15, 2010
  Hello if u face Microsoft SQL server, Error:18456 Then open management studio as administrator. I hope that this works as it did for me.

• Anonymous
  June 15, 2010
  The post is really helping me in undertstanding the error happening in our Production SQL Server 2005. Below are the Error Message Details : Source        : Logon Message      : Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM'. [CLIENT: <local machine>] Date            : 6/14/2010 8:03:19 AM Log              : SQL Server (Current - 6/16/2010 2:02:00 AM) Source         : Logon Message      : Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. I am getting this error every minute logged in the SQL Server Error Log. One question : You have mentioned we may need assistance from CSS. I am not familiar with CSS before. May I know something about CSS?

• Anonymous
  June 15, 2010
  I have the same error with state 16 and the user NT AuthoritySystem on the local SQL server. The database where user tries to log on is marked as suspect by some restore.

• What is the error, what is the consequenz? suspect db causes login error or login error causes suspect db??
• What can I do to get things straight again?

• Anonymous
  June 15, 2010
  I have the same error with state 16 and the user NT AuthoritySystem on the local SQL server. The database where user tries to log on is marked as suspect by some restore.

• What is the error, what is the consequenz? suspect db causes login error or login error causes suspect db??
• What can I do to get things straight again?

• Anonymous
  July 04, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  July 29, 2010
  I am trying to sign up for www.Caring4Cancer.com--i keep getting login failed

• Anonymous
  August 29, 2010
  I met this error:Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM'. At last i found that the reason for this error When a replication-job run, after carefully checked,i found that i dropped publication and subscriber database , and i forgot to delete theses replication jobs. So when theses jobs run, SQL can't log NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM in to my dropped  publication and subscriber database

• Anonymous
  August 29, 2010
  Im having this problem with sql server 2005 in the first example of c#: Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. asifsab@yahoo.com

• Anonymous
  August 30, 2010
  A little trick I found after I was getting Login errors using management studio on the localhosst (win2008R2) You need to "run as adminstrator"

• Anonymous
  September 06, 2010
  What about the same error but for:

• windows authentication
• user which has sysadmin role
• connection is local
• state is 1 ?

• Anonymous
  September 26, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  September 26, 2010
  I really need your response... thank you... email me at gladztinosa@yahoo.com

• Anonymous
  September 26, 2010
  Hi, Just change the server authentication mode to "SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode" in Server Properties -> Security Tab. Sure It will be working fine. Thnx

• Anonymous
  October 11, 2010
  Tank you.  You have help yet another.

• Anonymous
  October 11, 2010
  Thank you.  You have help yet another.

• Anonymous
  October 18, 2010
  I have sharepoint 2007 .I am site collection administrator but I loose full control permission (now my permission is like disigner permission) I suspect my db sql 2005 express size I shtink wss_content  the size is now 2 .39 GB  but didn't work .when I show the  error log I found error:18456, security:14, state:16 login faild for user 'NT AUTHORITYNETWORK SEVICE'.[client :IP@] can someone help me

• Anonymous
  November 20, 2010
  I am getting an error 18456,severity 14 and state 1. What I 've to do know

• Anonymous
  December 01, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  December 06, 2010
  I have got the following error: login failed for user 'sa' category: 4 event id: 18456 Can anyone came across this issue.......

• Anonymous
  December 22, 2010
  HI, I am using sql server 2005.i denied the serveradministrator to connect to database engine.Now the problem is that i am not able to connect to the database engine in windows authentication mode. plz tell me how to grant permission to admin.

• Anonymous
  January 10, 2011
  Hi,      I have a user that uses dynamics and can connect and will start working but then something will hang or report will not run. and i find 18456 severity 14 state 8 messages in in log on server. which points to a password mismatch , but if the password was incorrect user will not be able to login on dynamics/sql.. any ideas?  I am think about reloading users SQL client to see if these clears up the errors.

• Anonymous
  February 28, 2011
  I am getting the below error on sql 2008.  can some one help me with this. The domain account is a sysadmin on the server. This msg pops up every 1 min in the errorlog Logon        Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 38. Logon        Login failed for user 'domainSPS2007'. Reason: Failed to open the explicitly specified database.

• Anonymous
  March 14, 2011
  For those struggling with State 1.  State 1 means you dont have permissions to even get an error message.  In my case it was because the server was set to Windows Authentication mode only (not mxied mode or Windows & Sql mode).  Once I changed the server mode and restarted it worked fine.

• Anonymous
  April 04, 2011
  hi all, me getting error 18456 state:1 and severity:14........what should i do??? plz can anybody mail the solution at harneetsingh3@gmail.com

• Anonymous
  April 12, 2011
  Any comments on why we're seeing the following in the ERRORLOG: 04/13/2011 12:13:48,Logon,Unknown,Login failed for user 'DOMAINNODE1$'. Reason: Token-based server access validation failed with an infrastructure error. Check for previous errors. [CLIENT: 172.21.0.228] 04/13/2011 12:13:48,Logon,Unknown,Error: 18456<c/> Severity: 14<c/> State: 11. So it's on a newly built SQL Server 2008R2 Cluster with SPN configured.

• Anonymous
  April 19, 2011
  Hi, i have Login failed for user "x" Error 18456 as error messages in SQL Server 2008. Plz what to do?

• Anonymous
  April 19, 2011
  Hi, i have Login failed for user "x" Error 18456 as error messages in SQL Server 2008. Plz what to do?

• Anonymous
  May 05, 2011
  I had state "1" after renaming a database!!

• Anonymous
  May 11, 2011
  I had the same problem with state 38 , I had an sql server pc that was running within a domain. (i wanted my app to connect to this instance) I resolved it by creating a login for each user via the sql server  Logins , also a user for the database with the domainnameuser   (I was using windows auth  for my server and local instance false as I didnt want a local copy created for my users, the problem was that although my user could access the sql server via windows auth- but tconnecting to the database, I would still need a user and login for each person accessing my database. (also obviously make sure you have added the firewall ports for sql browser and sql server!)

• Anonymous
  June 06, 2011
  I am getting this error in log Error : 18456, Severity : 14, State : 11 Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITYNETWORK SERVICE' this error is generating in the front end .net application We ar using the use Integrated Security=SSPI with an IIS/ASP application.The DB is assigned to  NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM  login Please help with regards Dilip D

• Anonymous
  June 08, 2011
  Using Sql Studio Express to connect to a Sql Server 2005, I'm getting Error: 1846, State: 8 -- which should be password mismatch.  Yet, when I use the same user name and password from a jdbc based client like Squirrel, it works fine.  I have another machine where I have the login details saved where things work fine -- I am loath to try retyping the password there because if it doesn't work, then I can no longer support this system.  Anyway, why might I be getting a password mismatch error when the password is correct?

• Anonymous
  June 19, 2011
  J'ai un problème avec le LAN  du programme docteur connectivité . J' aimerais résoudre ce problème. Pouriez -vous m'indiquer toutes les étapes qui me permettront de résoudre le problème? Je vous remercie!!!

• Anonymous
  July 12, 2011
  erver Authentication. The 'sa' login details are correct but still getting the following error message: Quote: Login failed for user 'sa'. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18456) In order to resolve the issue, please refer to the following steps:

1. Login to the MSSQL Server Management Studio with Windows Authentication.
2. In SQL Server Management Studio Object Explorer, right-click the server, and then click Properties.
3. Under the Server Properties, select a page of "Security".
4. Select the Server authentication as "SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode" and click Ok.
5. Restart the SQL Services and then try to login with 'sa' details.

• Anonymous
  October 11, 2011
  Login failed for user 'sa'. Reason: Password did not match that for the login provided I installed happysql.com software to block hackers attack for brute force password. It works great. I tried to find solution but this one is only helped me to save my sql.

• Anonymous
  October 25, 2011
  The most common I encounter in my case is sql authentication not enabled. This helped www.sql-server-business-intelligence.com/.../microsoft-sql-server-error-18456-login-failed-for-user

• Anonymous
  November 05, 2011
  Sounds like your database server isn't configured for both NT and SQL authentication. or you can use sa user that have access over target database.

• Anonymous
  December 11, 2011
  The following link has details of this error sqlserverlearner.com/.../microsoft-sql-server-error-18456

• Anonymous
  December 21, 2011
  i have error  18456 in windows 7.please give me solution

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2012
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 06, 2012
  ALTER LOGIN sa ENABLE ;    GO    ALTER LOGIN sa WITH PASSWORD = '<enterStrongPasswordHere>' ;    GO

• Anonymous
  February 16, 2012
  stackoverflow.com/.../how-to-change-from-sql-server-windows-mode-to-mixed-modesql-server-2008

• Anonymous
  February 16, 2012
  I have one more reference for this <a href="www.sql-server-business-intelligence.com/.../microsoft-sql-server-error-18456-login-failed-for-user">sql error 18456</a>, check this out !!!

• Anonymous
  February 23, 2012
  Hi Sam, I go through the following link: www.sql-server-business-intelligence.com/.../microsoft-sql-server-error-18456-login-failed-for-user as you provided in the conversation, it its going to help. Thanks

• Anonymous
  March 28, 2012
  Hi! I have the vry same problem with status 16 and it appears that my DB are in recovery every 5 seconds. Why is that? While the DB are in recovery mode they won't accept logins. What to do? MRamirez

• Anonymous
  April 08, 2012
  hi this is an issue if you are running window 7 please right click on the icon of sql server management studio and then click on run as administrator after that login menu appear just choose -> Server Type : Database Engine Server Name:   ( . )      // don't put any brackets only type single dot here (if you didn't given any user name for more information or for sql server installation just see this video tutorial) Authentication : Windows Authentication it could be possible you gave an instance name if you remember than put it as computername/instance type your computer name and after slash type the instance if you remember watch this tutorial complete guide to run sql for begginers www.youtube.com/watch this is part 1 www.youtube.com/watch and this is part 2 it will really work

• Anonymous
  April 21, 2012
  check your sql server authentication mode.

• Anonymous
  April 25, 2012
  On one machine we have This problem: SQL Server on server log reports failed login codes: Error: 1846 Severity: 14 State: 11 But on other we do not. The machine... SQL Server 2008 R2 64x V10.50.2500.0 Running on VMWare

• Anonymous
  May 30, 2012
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 10, 2012
  Hello, On SQL Server 2005 SP3 One time I had the same error 18456, but with no Level and State. After a look at Windows Events it seems to be a rights trouble. I create my domainaccount to the SQL Server logins with sysadmin role. Then start SQL Agent like a charm !

• Anonymous
  June 24, 2012
  Here's another link that covers the same subject with slightly more explanation (screenshots) www.katieandemil.com/microsoft-sql-server-error-18456-login-failed-for-user

• Anonymous
  July 08, 2012
  hi, I have a problem sqlstate 28000, sql error server 18456. what i should do??? i really need to run this program. with this program do the orders of the day to day maintenance of the company. thanks, regards.

• Anonymous
  July 17, 2012
  Love it!! The errors are kept non descript for security reasons to keep people from understanding why it's failing, but here are the reasons for the failures. Thank goodness hackers can't use google :) Here's an even better option, to stop the possibility of the wrong people having access, stop all authentication. Sheez MS, could you get any dumber??

• Anonymous
  July 24, 2012
  I've got a state: 14 with Sql Server 2008 R2 accessing from Excel 2003. Can you help? Thanks a  lot

• Anonymous
  August 03, 2012
  right click mouse->run as administrator...

• Anonymous
  September 14, 2012
  Excellent post.  I was fumbling until I saw this.   It would be good to repost and update the list of States or at least point to where to find the full list.   I found that 58 means the user is logging in with SQL User credentials but the database server is configured to only use Windows Login credentials.

• Anonymous
  September 24, 2012
  Reset the password; try it and change the passw back. worked for me.

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2012
  try RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR  in order to connect using windows authentication

• Anonymous
  November 07, 2012
  Dear All, I had faced same issue in my SQL Server 2008R2 SSMS and i have fixed the same have gone through SQL logs and I have analyzed that "Issue is related to authentication". So I have run SSMS.exe as administrator and it’s allowed me to login. Cheer guys!!!! Regards Gaurav Chauhan

• Anonymous
  November 09, 2012
  sql server 2005 has error 18456 severity 14 state 16 login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM' - this user has sysadm and everything else, why is there an error several times a minute?  Ive checked security / roles / ... All is in place.  

• Anonymous
  November 25, 2012
  I have the problem in sql server 2008 error:18456

• Anonymous
  January 30, 2013
  For users with State 11 or State 12: This will allow your Windows Login (with admin priv) to access the SQL server! msdn.microsoft.com/.../dd207004.aspx

• Anonymous
  February 06, 2013
  how to  pix Error code sq l server 18456

• Anonymous
  February 08, 2013
  LOL I just got this error message of 1.  Out of the blue.  No idea why this is happening . But Thank You microsoft for providing a such dog&hit error messages.  Gawd I hate M$

• Anonymous
  February 23, 2013
  right click on the sql server manager studio and select run as administrator becose it treat your system name as subuser of administrator

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2013
  =================================== Cannot connect to NAGARAJU-PC. =================================== A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server) (.Net SqlClient Data Provider)

Program Location:   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection)   at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj)   at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.Connect(ServerInfo serverInfo, SqlInternalConnectionTds connHandler, Boolean ignoreSniOpenTimeout, Int64 timerExpire, Boolean encrypt, Boolean trustServerCert, Boolean integratedSecurity, SqlConnection owningObject)   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.AttemptOneLogin(ServerInfo serverInfo, String newPassword, Boolean ignoreSniOpenTimeout, Int64 timerExpire, SqlConnection owningObject)   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.LoginNoFailover(String host, String newPassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance, SqlConnection owningObject, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, Int64 timerStart)   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.OpenLoginEnlist(SqlConnection owningObject, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, String newPassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance)   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds..ctor(DbConnectionPoolIdentity identity, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, Object providerInfo, String newPassword, SqlConnection owningObject, Boolean redirectedUserInstance)   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionFactory.CreateConnection(DbConnectionOptions options, Object poolGroupProviderInfo, DbConnectionPool pool, DbConnection owningConnection)   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.CreateNonPooledConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, DbConnectionPoolGroup poolGroup)   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.GetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection)   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.OpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory)   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.Open()   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.VSIntegration.ObjectExplorer.ObjectExplorer.ValidateConnection(UIConnectionInfo ci, IServerType server)   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.ConnectionDlg.Connector.ConnectionThreadUser()

• Anonymous
  April 30, 2013
  I have installed sql server 2005 yesterday,after that i restored all my  databases ,today i am traying to opening sql but   i am unable to login with WINDOWS AUTHENTICATION and  SQLSERVER AUTHENTICATION could you please suggest me..... Thanks Robert

• Anonymous
  May 17, 2013
  What about state 1?  I'm getting error 18456 state 1 (severity 14)

• Anonymous
  May 29, 2013
  Hi, I have an user with sysadmin permissions still it is giving state 16 error? Can someone please help? Thanks

• Anonymous
  August 02, 2013
  SQLSTATE: 42000 code: 4060 message: [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 11.0][SQL Server]Cannot open database "DatMasterColegios__2013" requested by the login. The login failed. Error: este es el que a mi me aparece que puedo hacer

• Anonymous
  August 06, 2013
  08/06/2013 16:15:29,Logon,Unknown,Login failed for user '<username>'. Reason: Password did not match that for the login provided. [CLIENT: x.x.x.x] 08/06/2013 16:15:29,Logon,Unknown,Error: 18456<c/> Severity: 14<c/> State: 8 I have tried resetting the password on the SQL Server 2012 and I am able to get back in just fine. However, if I switch PC's or logout of Windows 7 and back in again, and use the same credentials that just worked. The same error message comes up. We have roaming profiles enabled and we are trying to resolve why this keeps happening. Any input would be most helpful. Thanks!

• Anonymous
  September 27, 2013
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 10, 2013
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 10, 2013
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 11, 2013
  I've had the same problem. Restart all the SQL Server services. To restart the services go to Start > Administrative Tools > Services and find the sql services and restart them.

• Anonymous
  December 18, 2013
  One to a few times during the work day, seemingly at random, I am getting a log entry of "Login failed for user '<our domain>mfreeman'. [CLIENT: 192.168.0.48]". This is paired with a log entry of "Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16." at the same time. I captured this with Profiler and found that it is for the master database (which is online and not having any troubles -- I can run queries against it in SSMS just fine) and is coming from an ApplicationName of ".Net SqlClient" (which could be anything). This is my own login (which has the sysadmin role in the instance), and it is coming from my workstation. I get it Is there any way to find out more specifically what might be attempting the access or why it might be failing?

• Anonymous
  December 20, 2013
  Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 1. help

• Anonymous
  January 19, 2014
  i am having this problem with sql server 2005 in the first example of c#: Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 16. What should I do? my email   rs007202@gmail.com

• Anonymous
  March 08, 2014
  Login failed for user 'Kunal-PCKunal'. (.Net SqlClient Data Provider) what can i do? my email:prajapati.kunal3@gmail.com thanks

• Anonymous
  May 30, 2014
  error: 18456, state 1??????????????

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2014
  SQL server error: 18456 overview - This error occurs when your authentication request is been successfully accepted by SQL server named, but due to some reason SQL server is not able to grant the access to connect. For more detail check here - vsstack.blogspot.in/.../microsoft-sql-server-error-18456-login.html

• Anonymous
  July 06, 2014
  Hello, TITLE: Connect to Server

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Login failed for user 'sa'. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18456) For help, click: go.microsoft.com/fwlink

• Anonymous
  October 12, 2014
  I need to know what I should do about my log_in failure. I turn on computer, login page appears. I hae to people: Elaine and Jo E. I cannot remember my password to the Jo E. account because I have been ill and just forgot it. But it is the Administrators account. It is very disabling to my ability to use computer. Thank you for your attention.  Elaine Alsup

• Anonymous
  October 15, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 08, 2014
  I have exactly the same problem using SQL Server 2005. email me -braviear@gmail.com

• Anonymous
  December 11, 2014
  Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 1 Solution for me: Log off from the session and do a fresh logon to the (remote) system. looks like somekind of corruption of the SQL Server Management studio.

• Anonymous
  December 17, 2014
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 11, 2015
  I think these step below will help you:

1. Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.
2. Login with Window Authentication user
3. Right click Database server --> chose Properties
4. Click Security --> Server authentication --> change to "SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode"
5. Click OK --> restart services. Done. Hope helpful.

• Anonymous
  February 23, 2015
  Check if your SQL server is configured to windows and SQL authentication mode.

• Anonymous
  March 06, 2015
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 16, 2015
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 30, 2015
  Thanks for this.  I have never had a server set to just windows authentication so I had no idea about this property.  But here is an idea, Microsoft.  If the server authentication is set to Windows Authentication mode then don't present SQL Server login option in the drop down when connecting to the server.   I'm using SQL Server 2012 and this behavior is the same as it was in v 2005.

• Anonymous
  July 27, 2015
  I have Error 18456, Severity 14, State 29.  I can't find any information on this state anywhere.  Any suggestions?

• Anonymous
  August 20, 2015
  Useful information, thank you for sharing

• Anonymous
  September 23, 2015
  You can post your queries regarding to SQL Server Error 18456 in this forum site http://sysc.org/

• Anonymous
  October 19, 2015
  Who are CSS ? We have state 38, what does that mean ?

• Anonymous
  December 01, 2015
  Message Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8. what is error