How to Fix the “The server principal ( ) is not able to access the database ( )” Error In Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio

Written by Arian Jahansouz Friday, 14 August 2009

Related documents:
1. How to Use Microsoft SQL Server 2008 to Connect to your Database
2. How to backup a MSSQL database using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management Studio Express
3. How to Restore a MSSQL.bak Database Uing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management Studio Express

This post will give you step by step instructions on how to fix the server principal error in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. The error you are getting is a bug/security issue in the latest Microsoft SQL Management program. You can find a tutorial on how to set up a database here and you can find a tutorial on how to use Microsoft SQL Server 2008 here. After logging in with the proper user name, password and database name (which you specified in the DotNetPanel), you will need to follow these instructions:

1) Click “View” and then “Object Explorer Details”. You could also hit the F7 key on your keyboard.

2) Double click on the “Databases” folder.

3) Right-click on the column header “Policy Health State”.

4) Deselect the option “Collation”.

5) Click “Refresh”.

6) Your window should now look like this.

This concludes how to fix the server principal error in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.

10 Comments

1. Paul van Schaik   |  Friday, 23 April 2010 at 11:35 am

   This works, but at the end you will see ALL databases installed on this instance, also those of other customers – where you don’t have access to.

   
2. Arvand Sabetian   |  Friday, 23 April 2010 at 11:43 am

   Yes, however as you mentioned, you have no access to them. This is a limitation of MSSQL which we’ve tried to resolve but have been unsuccessful.

   
3. kumar   |  Monday, 10 May 2010 at 4:26 pm

   I am also having same issue, Displays all others customers database. It takes so much time time to expand databases folder in sql server 2008 management studio. Winhost.com hosting have something different i can see only my database

   
4. Prakash   |  Saturday, 19 March 2011 at 11:53 am

   Thanks for such a easy step by step process. It was really helpful to resolve the issue.

   
5. Vladimir   |  Monday, 12 September 2011 at 3:21 pm

   Hi, i have an issue. When i want to develop a “Database Diagram”, appear the next error:

   “Cannot open user default database. Login Failed”

   The number error is 4064

   Any ideas ?

   
6. Ryan   |  Tuesday, 29 November 2011 at 11:15 am

   Any fix yet for showing all of the databased (even of other customers)?

   
7. Shankar   |  Friday, 25 May 2012 at 1:19 am

   Thanks for the fix

   
8. Arian Jahansouz   |  Saturday, 26 May 2012 at 12:34 pm

   No problem!

   
9. Jason Gegere   |  Monday, 23 July 2012 at 9:30 pm

   I love how insecure yet secure MSSQL is by showing you a complete list of databases…

   
10. John Bencina   |  Saturday, 29 September 2012 at 10:02 pm

    It’s not really an insecurity. MSSQL is designed to operate in a way that all databases running under a single instance are accessible. Access permissions are handled at a database level and in order to save overhead, MSSQL does not pre-determine what you are or aren’t allowed to access. Therefore you initially can see the entire tree until you try to make a login attempt to that database.

    The only way to prevent this from happening is to host a new instance of SQL Server for each user. This requires a lot of hardware which is why some users opt for Dedicated Hosting vs Shared Hosting.