Why I can't login SA with docker

[joelGarcia93]

Hello im trying to install Sql server in Docker to can use it in my Mac. but since 2 days ago I can not fix this error, I've noticed is a popular issue but I don't know how to solve it. someone can help me? before of all Thank you!

MacBook-Air-de-Joel:~ joelgarcia$ docker run --name sql_server_demo -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=Jko3va-D9821jhsvGD'. -e 'MSSQL_PID=Enterprise' -p 1433:1433 -d microsoft/mssql-server-linux:2017-latest d4848181f0a171f0b1b29cc59489961432894016c3ac9f0304d180a66c7343e6 MacBook-Air-de-Joel:~ joelgarcia$ mssql -s localhost -u sa -p Jko3va-D9821jhsvGD Connecting to localhost... Error: Login failed for user 'sa'.

I also tried with this

MacBook-Air-de-Joel:~ joelgarcia$ sudo docker exec -it sql_server_demo /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd -S localhost -U sa -P Jko3va-D9821jhsvGD Sqlcmd: Error: Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server : Login failed for user 'sa'..

[twright-msft]

Have you tried a different password? Try something relatively simplistic like Banana100
Also when connecting on a macbook try using 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost.

[joelGarcia93]

it doesn't work, I've changed more than 30 times the password.

MacBook-Air-de-Joel:~ joelgarcia$ docker run --name sql_server_demo -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=Banana100'. -e 'MSSQL_PID=Enterprise' -p 1433:1433 -d microsoft/mssql-server-linux:2017-latest a0a1a0fe5e3946f36f747a24f43bb8f6372529391b9a153b799eb699f27480a0

MacBook-Air-de-Joel:~ joelgarcia$ mssql -s 127.0.0.1 -u sa -p Banana100 Connecting to 127.0.0.1... Error: Login failed for user 'sa'.

MacBook-Air-de-Joel:~ joelgarcia$ sudo docker exec -it sql_server_demo /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd -S 127.0.0.1 -U sa -P Banana100 Sqlcmd: Error: Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server : Login failed for user 'sa'..

[brentarias]

I have the same problem. On my Windows 10 Pro (v 1803) I created my container from a powershell prompt:

docker run -d -p 1433:1433 --name sql1 -e sa_password=SecurePassword -e ACCEPT_EULA=Y microsoft/mssql-server-windows-developer:2017-latest

Afterward, the following command works:

docker exec -it sql1 sqlcmd -S localhost

The above gives me access as "User Manager\ContainerAdministrator". However, the following command fails with "Login failed for user 'sa'":

docker exec -it sql1 sqlcmd -S localhost -U sa -P SecurePassword

I tried omitting the "-P SecurePassord" portion, so that it would interactively request the password. When I enter the password interactively, it still does not work. I have also tried a "docker rm" of the container, to start fresh. The second time around with "docker run" I put the password in quotes -e "sa_password=SecurePassword". Still didn't work.

Incidentally, I have yet to find any MS documentation online that explains the "ContainerAdministrator" account and why it requires no password. Elsewhere I read that the 'sa' account is disabled by default for SQL Server. Perhaps that is the problem in this Docker context? I've not yet seen any documentation online, from any source, that explains how to enable the 'sa' account in a Docker container.

Here is my "docker info":

Containers: 1
Running: 1
Paused: 0
Stopped: 0
Images: 1
Server Version: 18.03.1-ce
Storage Driver: windowsfilter
Windows:
Logging Driver: json-file
Plugins:
Volume: local
Network: ics l2bridge l2tunnel nat null overlay transparent
Log: awslogs etwlogs fluentd gelf json-file logentries splunk syslog
Swarm: inactive
Default Isolation: hyperv
Kernel Version: 10.0 16299 (16299.431.amd64fre.rs3_release_svc_escrow.180502-1908)
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro
OSType: windows
Architecture: x86_64
CPUs: 4
Total Memory: 15.84GiB
Name: PHXL1000009
ID: TYSY:KAL5:IJHZ:HKIE:KL57:RXGU:C5YC:2JRK:P4V7:2E3M:TBTC:6FYX
Docker Root Dir: C:\ProgramData\Docker
Debug Mode (client): false
Debug Mode (server): true
File Descriptors: -1
Goroutines: 35
System Time: 2018-05-29T13:45:12.4098754-07:00
EventsListeners: 1
Registry: https://index.docker.io/v1/
Labels:
Experimental: false
Insecure Registries:
127.0.0.0/8
Live Restore Enabled: false

[brentarias]

I think I found the problem for both myself and @joelGarcia93

Password Complexity

In my case, the password "SecurePassword" does not pass complexity validation. Instead of receiving an error, the container starts without any sign of an error. However, I can then no longer login as SA. I stopped and removed my container, then re-created it with "docker run" but this time I changed the password to "1Secure*Password1". Now having a complexity-valid password, finally I am able to log in as SA.

Environment Variable Name

In Joel's case, I believe he is using an incorrectly named environment variable. Instead of:

-e 'MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=Jko3va-D9821jhsvGD'

I believe it should be:

-e 'SA_PASSWORD=Jko3va-D9821jhsvGD'

Conclusion

If the the SA password is not specified, or if it does not pass a complexity test - the "docker run" command will not provide any indication that there is a problem. Perhaps this is where the real problem is?

Cheers!

[joelGarcia93]

at least for me, It doesn't work yet :(! I changed the Password as @brentarias said and also I changed SA_PASSWORD instead MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD.

MacBook-Air-de-Joel:~ joelgarcia$ docker run --name sql_server_demo -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'SA_PASSWORD=1Secure*Password1'. -e 'MSSQL_PID=Enterprise' -p 1433:1433 -d microsoft/mssql-server-linux:2017-latest 3c970aad439fc3ea765203f151bca77bb56ff1d49ab167c3301af7dd27c7a7f7

MacBook-Air-de-Joel:~ joelgarcia$ mssql -s localhost -u sa -p 1Secure*Password1 Connecting to localhost... Error: Login failed for user 'sa'.

MacBook-Air-de-Joel:~ joelgarcia$ docker exec -it sql_server_demo opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd -S localhost -U sa -P 1Secure*Password1 Sqlcmd: Error: Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server : Login failed for user 'sa'..

some advice? thanks

[twright-msft]

@joelGarcia93 - I tried your exact commands via copy/paste and got the same error on my macbook. I tried various combinations of things and ultimately got it to work by removing the MSSQL_PID env var. Ah hah! I thought I must have found a bug, but when I added it back to be sure, it still worked with the MSSQL_PID env var. Then I noticed what I think is the actual problem you are having. There is a sneaky little period after your password environment variable that is for some reason throwing everything off.

Your original command:

docker run --name sql_server_demo -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'SA_PASSWORD=1Secure*Password1'. -e 'MSSQL_PID=Enterprise' -p 1433:1433 -d microsoft/mssql-server-linux:2017-latest

Should be:

docker run --name sql_server_demo -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'SA_PASSWORD=1Secure*Password1' -e 'MSSQL_PID=Enterprise' -p 1433:1433 -d microsoft/mssql-server-linux:2017-latest

Output on my mac:

$ docker run --name sql_server_demo -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'SA_PASSWORD=1Secure*Password1' -e 'MSSQL_PID=Enterprise' -p 1433:1433 -d microsoft/mssql-server-linux:2017-latest
a340c909afafad73571029674603b973fefab5a141780ee9cc02ed11557d5bb4
$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                                      COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS              PORTS                    NAMES
a340c909afaf        microsoft/mssql-server-linux:2017-latest   "/bin/sh -c /opt/mss…"   19 seconds ago      Up 1 second         0.0.0.0:1433->1433/tcp   sql_server_demo
$ docker exec -it sql_server_demo /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd -S localhost -U sa -P 1Secure*Password1
1> 

Please confirm and hopefully we can close this one out! :)

[joelGarcia93]

@twright-msft Thank you so much, now it works like a charm!! Im gonna continue working with .Net Mvc Framework with Sql server.

You are very kind, Thank you so much!!

[rnmulchandani]

@twright-msft
Hi, I tried to run the same command but it failed for me.

C:\Users\mulchr>docker run --name sql1 -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'SA_PASSWORD=1Secure*Password1' -p 1433:1433 -d microsoft/mssql-server-linux:2017-latest
312fd83bc65cc8eaa432355c70f0bf4061cd38045c075f3c747cd9d6acaaa561

C:\Users\mulchr>docker exec -it sql1 /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd -S localhost -U sa -P 1Secure*Password1
Error response from daemon: Container 312fd83bc65cc8eaa432355c70f0bf4061cd38045c075f3c747cd9d6acaaa561 is not running

C:\Users\mulchr>docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                                      COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS                      PORTS               NAMES
312fd83bc65c        microsoft/mssql-server-linux:2017-latest   "/opt/mssql/bin/sq..."   21 seconds ago      Exited (1) 12 seconds ago                       sql1

Could you please help me in this? I don't know why the container exits immediately.

[twright-msft]

Couple of things to try -

1. A different password - no symbols, just uc/lc letters and numbers
2. run docker logs sql1

[OndeVai]

In my case I was running into the same thing but just with docker-compose. Turns out the the environment vars need to be quoted to handle special chars. Newbie mistake :)

mssql: image: mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:latest ports: - "1433:1433" environment: - "ACCEPT_EULA=Y" - "SA_PASSWORD=P@ssword66" - "MSSQL_PID=Express" networks: - aspnetcore-network

[mcjiffy]

I met this issue too. And I soled it.
Juse saw the logs:

docker logs mssql
ERROR: Unable to set system administrator password: Password validation failed. The password does not meet SQL Server password policy requirements because it is not complex enough. The password must be at least 8 characters long and contain characters from three of the following four sets: Uppercase letters, Lowercase letters, Base 10 digits, and Symbols..

To change a password and use SQL Server password policy.It works.

[hiteshbhandari]

container

Thanks for the suggestion. Worked in my case regarding password complexity part

[vpaulino]

Hi there

I'm having issues with my SA user and password that I created. according to the rules, the password should be valid. Here is a printscreen regarding what I have done in powershell:

Any ideias ?

[vpaulino]

I found it.

looks like it the " cannot be used to represent the password string. it should be used the ' !

[blackat]

Under Windows
docker run -e "ACCEPT_EULA=Y" -e "SA_PASSWORD=Manager2017" -e "MSSQL_PID=Enterprise" -p 1433:1433 --name mssql -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2017-latest
pay attention to doube " for the password, the single ' does not work when I login.

Under Mac no issue with single '.

[aneudysamparo]

The problem is the password strangeness. I tried the @brentarias method and it worked!

[jaimeabm]

Try:

sudo docker start 'sql1'

It is like the image is there and ready to run, you might only need to start the image.

[suri1987]

sudo docker run --name honeywell --hostname SQL --network="docker-network" --ip=172.18.0.8 -p 1434:1433 -e 'sa_password=Xkp7VmE6YHVDM' -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -d microsoft/mssql-server-linux:latest

docker inspect -f "{{range .NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}" honeywell
172.18.0.8

8861458b9fe02f6fc35e445ec1813965e0a8b11fcae57ccd5b7a57167787fd9a

sudo docker exec -it honeywell /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd - S 172.18.0.8 -U sa -P Xkp7VmE6YHVDM
Sqlcmd: ' ': Unknown Option. Enter '-?' for help.

[croblesm]

sudo docker run --name honeywell --hostname SQL --network="docker-network" --ip=172.18.0.8 -p 1434:1433 -e 'sa_password=Xkp7VmE6YHVDM' -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -d microsoft/mssql-server-linux:latest
docker inspect -f "{{range .NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}" honeywell
172.18.0.8
8861458b9fe02f6fc35e445ec1813965e0a8b11fcae57ccd5b7a57167787fd9a
sudo docker exec -it honeywell /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd - S 172.18.0.8 -U sa -P Xkp7VmE6YHVDM
Sqlcmd: ' ': Unknown Option. Enter '-?' for help.

went inside the docker container

docker exec -it honeywell bash
/opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd - S 172.18.0.8 -U sa -P Xkp7VmE6YHVDM
/opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd - S localhost,1432 -U sa -P Xkp7VmE6YHVDM
/opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd - S 127.0.0.1 -U sa -P Xkp7VmE6YHVDM**

nothing worked

Sqlcmd: Error: Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server : Login failed for user 'SA'.

Try with this:
sudo docker exec -it honeywell /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd -U sa -P 'Xkp7VmE6YHVDM'

You don't have to specify the server (-S) when connecting to the local host SQL Server instance. However, you have do it when you are connecting remotely. Another option to avoid the password issue, is to set the SQLCMDPASSWORD environment variable within your container, something like this: SET SQLCMDPASSWORD=Xkp7VmE6YHVDM. So the next time you connect, you don't need to specify the password, something like this:

sudo docker exec -it honeywell /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd -U sa

Good luck!

[croblesm]

@hal1987 Just checking, was your issue solved with the example above? If so, I think this issue can be closed :)

[JamesFaix]

It seems like if the SA password isn't set or is set to something invalid, this should fail the container creation. Is this not a bug, even though there is a workaround?

[ashrulpuo]

change password to char/num only, work for me

[giacomodeliberali]

My issue was resolved after stopping the SQL Server instance (and its services) running on the host.

[ftmzhrsckldr]

I forgot to delete the <> sign while creating the password. So when I added this sign, I was able to log in.

[damian5996]

Adding tcp prefix to the server name worked for me! :)

[ASxCRO]

For me above resolutions did not work, @damian5996 solution works well for me!

[mjovanc]

For someone who get this problem 2022, if I didn't add the following with MSSQL_PID I could not login.

docker run -d --name database_name-e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=MyPassword123' -e "MSSQL_PID=Developer" -p ${PORT}:1433 mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server

[miyake-kroger]

I have the same error when tried to pass -P "anything" (with double quotes).

[josinodaz]

For someone who get this problem 2022, if I didn't add the following with MSSQL_PID I could not login.

docker run -d --name database_name-e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=MyPassword123' -e "MSSQL_PID=Developer" -p ${PORT}:1433 mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server

Still doesn't work for me ;(

[josinodaz]

This is my terminal, if i could get any help

`still getting same error, after having tried multiple times.If anyone could identify whats wrong from my terminal below🥲

mac@Ghosts-MacBook-Pro ~ % docker images REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server 2019-latest 9ab26f8e5685 5 weeks ago 1.61GB mac@Ghosts-MacBook-Pro ~ % docker ps -a CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES mac@Ghosts-MacBook-Pro ~ % sudo npm install -g sql-cli Password: npm WARN config global --global, --localare deprecated. Use--location=global` instead.
npm WARN deprecated sprintf@0.1.5: The sprintf package is deprecated in favor of sprintf-js.
npm WARN deprecated core-js@1.2.7: core-js@<3.23.3 is no longer maintained and not recommended for usage due to the number of issues. Because of the V8 engine whims, feature detection in old core-js versions could cause a slowdown up to 100x even if nothing is polyfilled. Some versions have web compatibility issues. Please, upgrade your dependencies to the actual version of core-js.

changed 48 packages, and audited 49 packages in 6s

1 package is looking for funding
run npm fund for details

found 0 vulnerabilities
mac@Ghosts-MacBook-Pro ~ % docker run --name GHOST -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'SA_PASSWORD=1Unitedrange22’ -e 'MSSQL_PID=Developer’ -p 1433:1433 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest
5db465b250a8da5e47db009efa694dec025dd30cd0641fd5df84eb062774c424
mac@Ghosts-MacBook-Pro ~ % mssql -u sa -p 1Unitedrange2022
Connecting to localhost...
Error: Login failed for user 'sa'.`

[mburakovur]

I have " Login failed for user 'sa' "error for this comment:

docker run --name database_name -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'SA_PASSWORD=yourStrong(!)Password' -p 1433:1433 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest

it worked when i changed the comment like below:

docker run --name database_name -e "ACCEPT_EULA=Y" -e "SA_PASSWORD=yourStrong(!)Password" -p 1433:1433 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest

[andwivedi]

If you are running into this issue, It could mostly probably due to password policy enforced by SQL Server. To check this you can run this command docker logs <container-id> | grep error,

This would show you an error message like this
Login failed for user 'SA'. Reason: An error occurred while evaluating the password

You can run this command on Mac to get the containers running,

docker run -e "ACCEPT_EULA=Y" -e "MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=1Strong#Pwd" \
   -p 1433:1433 --name sql1 --hostname sql1 \
   -d \
   [mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest](http://mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest)

Later run these two commands to check If everything is working fine.

docker exec -it sql1 "bash"

/opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd -S localhost -U SA -P "1Strong#Pwd"

[jmgomez77]

I faced the same issue here, SA_PASSWORD works but in this article https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/linux/sql-server-linux-docker-container-troubleshooting?view=sql-server-ver16&pivots=cs1-bash it says MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD.

[tracker1]

@rnmulchandani If you're using a regular Command Prompt in windows, that CMD command interpreter doesn't use single quote ' as an input delimiter, you can only use double-quote ". This is likely your problem.

[Muzical84]

I've literally tried every last thing on this thread and I get the exact same error, cannot log into SA, and I've tried every complexity or lack thereof that you can imagine on passwords. WHY is this still broken half a decade after this issue was created?! Especially with a company like Microsoft owning this repo, there's less than zero excuse for that. Either support macOS or don't. The Docker container was the "solution" for Mac users at a developer conference I'm at and I've literally wasted the money I spent trying to get this working! If this doesn't work for macOS, used by plenty of developers even in 2023, then at least own that. (I even tried all of this with Microsoft's own Docker container, same results, so I don't think it's the fault of the workshop instructor, past not sufficiently testing before this session. He SHOULD have been able to trust this to work!)

[seizezeday]

Having same issue but in my case it was even more complicated by the fact that i was using volumes,
And it happened to be, that your first successful login as "sa" user will persist used password in that volume.
So after you set/try another password you are unable to login without volume cleanup or without login with OLD password.
Check here:
#283

This happens because the password is stored in the master database. Because you persisted the master database files using the volume mount, the password is already stored there. If you re-run another container and mount to the same location the new container will just use the existing master DB and the password inside of it and ignore the new password you specified. If you want to use a new password with the original master DB then you need to log in using the old password and change it to a new password. If you want a new container and new master DB with a new password then you need to stop the container, delete the database files on the host, and then start a new container with the new password.

[Muzical84]

I deleted the entire Container between attempts, specifically to avoid that issue.

[CarlosLlongo]

I deleted the entire Container between attempts, specifically to avoid that issue.

I was doing the same, but that was not enough. Following @seizezeday advice, I deleted the container, image AND all of the files that had been created locally when creating the volumes. I was then able to set up a new password, and that allowed me to log in.