One of my existing clients contacted me for assistance in fixing an error. Sometimes, if the error is easy and it doesn’t take more than 10-15 minute, I give them the benefit of being my existing customer and I give free consulting (not always though). They informed me that they need moving SQL logins (username and password) from one server to another. To achieve that they were using sp_help_revlogin. Here are the steps:
- Create sp_help_revlogin and sp_hexadecimal on the source server using KB
- Execute the procedure in text mode in SSMS.
- Copy the resulting SQL output (SQL Script)
- Paste output from the previous step to the destination server
- Execute the script.
Here is the error they were getting while moving logins.
Msg 15021, Level 16, State 2, Line 1
Invalid value given for parameter PASSWORD. Specify a valid parameter value.
When I looked at the password value supplied, it is a hashed value rather than text. That’s how we can see the password in sql_logins so that should be OK.
WORKAROUND/SOLUTION
While checking further, I found that they were using this method to move logins from SQL Server 2012 to SQL Server 2008 R2. When I check on my machine the password_hash was starting with 0x01 in SQL Server 2008 R2 and in SQL Server 2012 it was starting with 0x02. Looks like that defines the SHA1 and SHA2. I also found that error is already documented in the KB of sp_help_revlogin and we need to use a blank password in the script and set the password for the account later.
Reference: Pinal Dave (https://blog.sqlauthority.com)
First appeared on SQL SERVER – Transfer Logins Error: Msg 15021: Invalid Value Given for Parameter Password