Summary

By default, local administrators may not have sufficient permissions to administer a local instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition Service Pack 1 (SP1) on a computer running Windows Vista.

Cause

The User Account Control (UAC) feature of Windows Vista changes how Windows handles members of the local administrator's group. In addition, SQL Server 2005 Express Edition does not automatically add members of the local administrator's group to the SysAdmin fixed server role.

Resolution

Manually add the desired user account to the SysAdmin fixed server role. You can accomplish this procedure using one of the following methods:

• Install SQL Server 2005 Express Edition Service Pack 2 (SP2) and use the SQL Server 2005 User Provisioning Tool for Vista to add a user account to the SysAdmin fixed server role.
• Use SQL Server Management Studio Express (SSMSE) to add the desired user account to the SysAdmin fixed server role.

For detailed instructions, please see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

929907 You may be unable to perform most database operations after you log on to an instance of SQL Server 2005 Express Edition Service Pack 1 on a Windows Vista-based computer.