You can still create a login with 'sysadmin' access. Thanks to Principal Data Engineer at Microsoft (Saleem Hakani) had authored the below on *SQL Server Tips & Tricks*: I found this while I was stuck in similar state when I forgot the sa password for my test machine. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-nz/archive/blogs/sqlman/tips-tricks-you-have-lost-access-to-sql-server-now-what --- > Here are the steps you will need to perform: > > 1. Start the SQL Server instance using single user mode (or minimal configuration which will also put SQL Server in single user mode) > > From the command prompt type: `SQLServr.Exe –m` (or `SQLServr.exe –f`) > > > > Note: If the Binn folder is not in your environmental path, you’ll > need to navigate to the Binn folder. > > (Usually the Binn folder is located at: `C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL > Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Binn`) > > 2. Once SQL Server service has been started in single user mode or with minimal configuration, you can now use the SQLCMD command from > command prompt to connect to SQL Server and perform the following > operations to add yourself back as an Admin on SQL Server instance. > > SQLCMD –S <Server_Name\Instance_Name> > > You will now be logged in to SQL Server as an Admin. > > 3. Once you are logged into the SQL Server using SQLCMD, issue the following commands to create a new account or add an existing login to > SYSADMIN server role. > > To create a new login and add that login to SYSADMIN server role: > > 1> CREATE LOGIN ‘<Login_Name>’ with PASSWORD=’<Password>’ > > 2> go > > 1> SP_ADDSRVROLEMEMBER ‘<Login_Name>’,’SYSADMIN’ > > 2>go > > To add an existing login to SYSADMIN server role, execute the > following: > > 1> SP_ADDSRVROLEMEMBER ‘<LOGIN_NAME>’,’SYSADMIN’ > > The above operation will take care of granting SYSADMIN privileges to > an existing login or to a new login. > > 4. Once the above steps are successfully performed, the next step is to stop and start SQL Server services using regular startup options. > (This time you will not need `–f` or `–m`)