Tag: sql server

Visual Studio Template ASP.NET Simple Membership database could not be initialized. For more information, please see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=256588

If you use the VS template to create a new 'internet' web application, then the template includes code for Asp.Net simple membership. But the template is written for SqlExpress. If you instead have a full SQL Server install on your machine it won't work.

The first exception you might see when debugging in visual studio is, 

Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.

or if you aren't debugging you might see

The system cannot find the file specified

neither of which help at all.

so first, change the connection string in web.config to use your local SQL Server:

<add name="DefaultConnection" connectionString="Data Source=(LocalDb)\v11.0;Initial Catalog=aspnet-MvcApplication1-20140225162244;Integrated Security=SSPI;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|\aspnet-MvcApplication1-20140225162244.mdf" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />

changing the connectionString's Data Source property to Data Source=.;

Now you might get the same or a different exception message:

The ASP.NET Simple Membership database could not be initialized. For more information, please see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=256588

but the linked page doesn't tell you how to fix it.

The inner exception is more helpful:

Directory lookup for the file "c:\...etc...\MvcApplication1\App_Data\aspnet-MvcApplication1-20140225162244.mdf" failed with the operating system error 5(Access is denied.).
CREATE DATABASE failed. Some file names listed could not be created. Check related errors.

Which tells you that the login account under which SQL Server is running doesn't have write permissions to the directory in which you write you code. It does have write permissions in the SQL Server data directory, for instance C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA so you'd think that by looking at that directory to see what user it runs under you'd be able to give it permissions.

Almost. The Explorer GUI Security tab showed me a usergroup called 'MSSQLSERVER' but if you try to give permissions to that group you'll find it doesn't exist. More helpful is the command line:

cacls "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL"

which, if you look carefully at the output,

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL 
    CREATOR OWNER:(OI)(CI)(IO)F
    NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F
    BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)F
    BUILTIN\Users:(OI)(CI)R
    NT SERVICE\MSSQLSERVER:(OI)(CI)R

shows you that you the actual name is NT SERVICE\MSSQLSERVER

So I gave modify permissions on my App_Data directory to NT SERVICE\MSSQLSERVER (I carefully copy-pasted the full name) and it worked.

Lost SQL Server sa password ? How to start up and login in single user mode

The problem: Someone has lost the sa admin password for your MS Sql Server; or the one person who has SQL admin rights has left the company. Alas, you find that even having Windows admin rights does not grant you access because you have a recent version of Sql Server and you didn't grant Sql Server admin rights to the machine or domain admins.

You can still fix this. You will need local admin right on the machine, and the ability to:

  • open a command line as an administrator
  • look through the registry with RegEdit to find the settings for the version and instance of Sql Server you are locked out of. MSDN mssqlserverloginmode-registry-key has some clues.
  • look through Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\ and find the binn directory for your version and instance of Sql Server.

The trick is to start Sql Server in single user mode, and then login as a local admin. This will give you admin access to the SQl Server.

How to Get Admin Access to Sql Server on Your Machine

  1. Stop the sql service.
    • This is most easily done via the Windows Services Gui, but net stop MSSQLSERVER might do it. If you have a named instance use net stop MSSQL$instancename
  2. Work out the file location and registry key for the version/instance name of sql server you are trying to get into. This may be trickier than you think - you may have SqlExpress as well as more than one version and instance name of MSSQLServer. For instance:
    • C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Binn and
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQLServer\

    or

    • C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\Binn and
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS
  3. Change the registry entry for loginmode to 2 (not 0 or 1), which enables both Windows and SQL authentication.
  4. Open a command line window as administrator and navigate to the binn directory you found earlier under C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\. Run sql from the command line using the –f parameter, sqlservr.exe -f
    • You may need more command line parameters to get your instance running properly, although I never have so far. If so, use the Windows Services Gui to see what the rest of your command line has to be.
    • For a named instance, your command line is sqlserver.exe -f -s instancename
    • An alternative to -f is -m, but -f worked for me.
  5. Open another commandline, also as administrator, and run sqlcmd –S <servername>. Sqlcmd is usually on the path, but if not it should be in the same directory as sqlservr.exe.
    • The server name for local machine is of course '.', as in sqlcmd -S .
  6. Now you can type T-SQL commands. Try Select @@ServerName, @@Version just for fun.
  7. Note that after typing your commands you must type GO and enter before anything you've typed gets sent to the server.
  8. Add yourself to the sysadmin role: 
    EXEC sp_addsrvrolemember 'DomainName\LoginName', 'sysadmin'
  9. Or, enable the sa login and set the password with 2 lines of T-Sql: 
    Alter login sa With Password= '<enterStrongPasswordHere>'
Alter login sa Enable
Go
  10. Exit and close both command windows.
  11. Restart the Sql Server service from the services Gui or with net start MSSQLSERVER or net start MSSQL$instancename

Done.

sp_WhoLock – a T-SQL stored proc combining sp_who and sp_lock to show who’s locking what and how much

Run this query, or remove the comments to actually create a stored proc.
Note that SQL pre-2008 requires a field to be commented out of the query, as noted inline.

/*
--Create Procedure WhoLock
--AS

if object_id('tempdb..#locksummary') is not null Drop table #locksummary
if object_id('tempdb..#lock') is not null Drop table #lock
create table #lock (    spid int,    dbid int,    objId int,    indId int,    Type char(4),    resource nchar(32),    Mode char(8),    status char(6))
Insert into #lock exec sp_lock
if object_id('tempdb..#who') is not null Drop table #who
create table #who (     spid int, ecid int, status char(30),
            loginame char(128), hostname char(128),
            blk char(5), dbname char(128), cmd char(16)
            --
            , request_id INT --Remove this line for SQL 2005 or earlier
            --
         )
Insert into #who exec sp_who
Print '-----------------------------------------'
Print 'Lock Summary for ' + @@servername  + ' (excluding tempdb):'
Print '-----------------------------------------' + Char(10)
Select     left(loginame, 28) as loginame, 
    left(db_name(dbid),128) as DB,
    left(object_name(objID),30) as object,
    max(mode) as [ToLevel],
    Count(*) as [How Many],
    Max(Case When mode= 'X' Then cmd Else null End) as [Xclusive lock for command],
    l.spid, hostname
into #LockSummary
from #lock l join #who w on l.spid= w.spid
where dbID != db_id('tempdb') and l.status='GRANT'
group by dbID, objID, l.spid, hostname, loginame

Select * from #LockSummary order by [ToLevel] Desc, [How Many] Desc, loginame, DB, object

Print '--------'
Print 'Who is blocking:'
Print '--------' + char(10)
SELECT p.spid
,convert(char(12), d.name) db_name
, program_name
, p.loginame
, convert(char(12), hostname) hostname
, cmd
, p.status
, p.blocked
, login_time
, last_batch
, p.spid
FROM      master..sysprocesses p
JOIN      master..sysdatabases d ON p.dbid =  d.dbid
WHERE     EXISTS (  SELECT 1
          FROM      master..sysprocesses p2
          WHERE     p2.blocked = p.spid )

Print '--------'
Print 'Details:'
Print '--------' + char(10)
Select     left(loginame, 30) as loginame,  l.spid,
    left(db_name(dbid),15) as DB,
    left(object_name(objID),40) as object,
    mode ,
    blk,
    l.status
from #lock l join #who w on l.spid= w.spid
where dbID != db_id('tempdb') and blk <>0
Order by mode desc, blk, loginame, dbID, objID, l.status

Although this is a bare metal approach to investigating sql contention, the query does show you actual login names, so it enables you to join up technical issues with affected/affecting customers.