Help Start with MSDE???SA password??

While installing the MSDE I get the folowing error:
A storng SA password is required forsecurity reasons.
Please use SAPWD switch to supply the same.
Refer to readme for more details.
Setup will now exit.

Thanks in advance

MustaphaThe installation instructions that came with your version of MSDE should include help on how to do this.

From where did you get MSDE?

Terri|||Hi,
If you need to change the sa password after the install, and you can uses the osql command line tool that will be available through your computer's command prompt.

If you don't know what a strong password is - it's one that meets certain criteria that make it harder for a hacker to break. I belive the min length is eight characters, it should contain a mix of at least three types of characters - upper case, lower case, numerals, punctuation marks (spaces are allowed). I'd opt for a 'pass-phrase'. Because you can use spaces, etc... you can use a phrase rather than just a string of alpha numeric charcaters. A medium length phrase, 40 charcaters or so, that mixes case and has some numerics is eaier to remember (without the need to write it down; a security problem in itself), and hard to crack.

Never leave the sa password blank.|||

I hope you get this. I am having the exact same trouble and the instructions don't tell me how to deal with this. I didn't have this problem the first time I loaded the program back in September but since my computer crashed and I had to reinstall everything, I am now having to fix this. I used the disc that came with the book and I also tried the version from this site.

Do you have any ideas?

Carolyn (crowbare@.sbcglobal.net)

|||

The reason you're seeing this message is that the MSDE installation executable expects you to pass the parameter to the installer when you run it. It's not intuitive that you have to do this, so when you double-click the download file you will see an "error" indicating that you must specify a strong password.

To avoid this, open a command prompt and navigate to the directory in which the installation file was saved. Call the help on that file by executing my_msde_install_file.exe /?. It will tell you the appropriate switch to use to set the password at runtime.

Hope this helps.