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Considerations for Running SQL Server 2005 on Windows Vista

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Microsoft SQL Server 2005 requires SP2 to run on Windows Vista. For more information, see Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2005.

The following considerations apply when you install and running SQL Server 2005 SP2 on Windows Vista.

Issues Caused by User Account Control in Windows Vista

Windows Vista includes a new feature, User Account Control (UAC) that helps administrators manage their use of elevated permissions. By default, on Windows Vista, administrators do not use their administrative rights. Instead, they perform most actions as standard (non-administrative) users, temporarily assuming their administrative rights only when it is necessary.

UAC causes some known issues. For more information, see the following Web pages on TechNet:

Administrator Rights Not Inherited from Windows

On versions earlier than Windows Vista, members of the local Administrators group do not need their own SQL Server logins and they do not have to be granted administrative rights inside SQL Server. They connect to SQL Server as the built-in server principal BUILTIN\Administrators, and they have administrative rights inside SQL Server because BUILTIN\Administrators is a member of the sysadmin fixed server role.

On Windows Vista, these mechanisms are available only to administrative users who are running with elevated Windows permissions, which is not recommended. Instead, you should create a SQL Server login for each administrative user, and add that login to the sysadmin fixed server role. You should also do this for Windows accounts that are used to run SQL Server agent jobs. These include replication agent jobs.

To add a new Login to the sysadmin fixed server role while logged in as machinename\Administrator

  1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to SQL Server 2005, and then click SQL Server Management Studio.

  2. Connect to SQL Server.

  3. To add the Windows user to the sysadmin fixed server role, follow these steps:

    1. Click Security.
    2. Right-click Logins, and then click New Login.
    3. Type the user name in the Login name text box.
    4. Click Server Roles.
    5. Select the sysadmin check box, and then click OK.

To add a new Login to the sysadmin fixed server role while logged in as any user other than the administrator

  1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to SQL Server 2005, right-click SQL Server Management Studio, and then click Run As Administrator.

    Note

    Run as Administrator option elevates the user permissions.

  2. You will see a User Account Control dialog box. You might have to provide the administrator credentials. Click Continue.

  3. In SQL Server Management Studio, connect to SQL Server.

  4. To add the Windows user to the sysadmin fixed server role, follow these steps:

    1. Click Security.
    2. Right-click Logins, and then click New Login.
    3. Type the user name in the Login name text box.
    4. Click Server Roles.
    5. Select the sysadmin check box, and then click OK.
Administrator Access Denied to a Report Server Deployment

UAC can prevent administrative access to a Report Server deployment. To gain administrative access, connect to SQL Server using the workaround described earlier in this topic and create role assignments on Home and at the system-level for your account. You have to run SQL Server Management Studio with elevated permissions only for creating the role assignments for your account, and for gaining access to a report server if your role assignments have been deleted. After creating role assignments for your account, you can close SQL Server Management Studio and then reopen it with standard permissions. The role assignments that you created for your account provide sufficient rights for you to create additional role assignments for other users.

For more information about installing and configuring a report server, see How to: Install 32-bit Reporting Services on Windows Vista and How to: Install 64-bit Reporting Services on Windows Vista.

Local Access Denied to Report Server Virtual Directories

If you try to access Report Manager or the report server on a local computer using Internet Explorer, you will get an access denied error. To resolve this error, add Report Manager and the report server URL to Trusted Sites in Internet Explorer.

Notification Services Command Prompt Fails to Open

If you try to open Notification Services Command Prompt, it will fail with an "Access is denied" error. This is because accessing the Notification Services folder under <drive>\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90 requires administrative permissions.

To run Notification Services Command Prompt, either log on to the computer by using the Administrator account, or run Notification Services Command Prompt with elevated permissions.

To use the Administrator account

  1. Log on to the computer by using the local Administrator account.

  2. On the Start menu, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2005, click Configuration Tools, right-click Notification Services Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

To use elevated permissions

  1. Log on to the computer by using an account that is a member of the local administrator group.

  2. On the Start menu, click Computer.

  3. Locate <drive>\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\NotificationServices.

  4. When you see a message that states "You don't currently have permission to access this folder," click Continue.

    Note

      If you do not see this message, you already have permission to access the folder.

  5. Right-click Notification Services Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

Notification Services Commands in SQL Server Management Studio Return Errors

If you try to run Notification Services commands in SQL Server Management Studio, an "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" error might occur. This is because running some Notification Services commands requires administrative permissions.

To run SQL Server Management Studio with elevated permissions

  1. Log on to the computer by using an administrator account.

  2. On the Start menu, click All Programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2005, right-click SQL Server Management Studio, and then click Run as administrator.

If you do not want to run SQL Server Management Studio with elevated permissions, use Notification Services Command Prompt to deploy and administer Notification Services.

Permissions to the Replication Snapshot Share Must Be Explicitly Granted

UAC can prevent administrative access to the snapshot share. You must explicitly grant snapshot share permissions to the Windows accounts that are used by the Snapshot Agent, Distribution Agent, and Merge Agent. You must do this even if the Windows accounts are members of the Administrators group. For more information, see "Replication Agent Security Model" in SQL Server Books Online.

SQL Server Performance Counters Are Not Visible in the Operating System Performance Monitor

In this release of SQL Server 2005 SP2, SQL Server performance counters are not visible in the operating system performance monitor when you are running Windows Vista. However, SQL Server performance counters are provided in the sys.dm_os_performance_counters dynamic management view.