Migrating SQL Server Users

Are you migrating SQL users?  I recommend migrating their SID’s as well.  There is this article on MSDN.  The sum of it is to run this:

USE master
      GO
      IF OBJECT_ID ('sp_hexadecimal') IS NOT NULL
        DROP PROCEDURE sp_hexadecimal
      GO
      CREATE PROCEDURE sp_hexadecimal
          @binvalue varbinary(256),
          @hexvalue varchar (514) OUTPUT
      AS
      DECLARE @charvalue varchar (514)
      DECLARE @i int
      DECLARE @length int
      DECLARE @hexstring char(16)
      SELECT @charvalue = '0x'
      SELECT @i = 1
      SELECT @length = DATALENGTH (@binvalue)
      SELECT @hexstring = '0123456789ABCDEF'
      WHILE (@i <= @length)
      BEGIN
        DECLARE @tempint int
        DECLARE @firstint int
        DECLARE @secondint int
        SELECT @tempint = CONVERT(int, SUBSTRING(@binvalue,@i,1))
        SELECT @firstint = FLOOR(@tempint/16)
        SELECT @secondint = @tempint - (@firstint*16)
        SELECT @charvalue = @charvalue +
          SUBSTRING(@hexstring, @firstint+1, 1) +
          SUBSTRING(@hexstring, @secondint+1, 1)
        SELECT @i = @i + 1
      END

      SELECT @hexvalue = @charvalue
      GO

      IF OBJECT_ID ('sp_help_revlogin') IS NOT NULL
        DROP PROCEDURE sp_help_revlogin
      GO
      CREATE PROCEDURE sp_help_revlogin @login_name sysname = NULL AS
      DECLARE @name sysname
      DECLARE @type varchar (1)
      DECLARE @hasaccess int
      DECLARE @denylogin int
      DECLARE @is_disabled int
      DECLARE @PWD_varbinary  varbinary (256)
      DECLARE @PWD_string  varchar (514)
      DECLARE @SID_varbinary varbinary (85)
      DECLARE @SID_string varchar (514)
      DECLARE @tmpstr  varchar (1024)
      DECLARE @is_policy_checked varchar (3)
      DECLARE @is_expiration_checked varchar (3)

      DECLARE @defaultdb sysname

      IF (@login_name IS NULL)
        DECLARE login_curs CURSOR FOR

            SELECT p.sid, p.name, p.type, p.is_disabled, p.default_database_name, l.hasaccess, l.denylogin FROM 
      sys.server_principals p LEFT JOIN sys.syslogins l
            ON ( l.name = p.name ) WHERE p.type IN ( 'S', 'G', 'U' ) AND p.name <> 'sa'
      ELSE
        DECLARE login_curs CURSOR FOR

            SELECT p.sid, p.name, p.type, p.is_disabled, p.default_database_name, l.hasaccess, l.denylogin FROM 
      sys.server_principals p LEFT JOIN sys.syslogins l
            ON ( l.name = p.name ) WHERE p.type IN ( 'S', 'G', 'U' ) AND p.name = @login_name
      OPEN login_curs

      FETCH NEXT FROM login_curs INTO @SID_varbinary, @name, @type, @is_disabled, @defaultdb, @hasaccess, @denylogin
      IF (@@fetch_status = -1)
      BEGIN
        PRINT 'No login(s) found.'
        CLOSE login_curs
        DEALLOCATE login_curs
        RETURN -1
      END
      SET @tmpstr = '/* sp_help_revlogin script '
      PRINT @tmpstr
      SET @tmpstr = '** Generated ' + CONVERT (varchar, GETDATE()) + ' on ' + @@SERVERNAME + ' */'
      PRINT @tmpstr
      PRINT ''
      WHILE (@@fetch_status <> -1)
      BEGIN
        IF (@@fetch_status <> -2)
        BEGIN
          PRINT ''
          SET @tmpstr = '-- Login: ' + @name
          PRINT @tmpstr
          IF (@type IN ( 'G', 'U'))
          BEGIN -- NT authenticated account/group

            SET @tmpstr = 'CREATE LOGIN ' + QUOTENAME( @name ) + ' FROM WINDOWS WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE = [' + @defaultdb + ']'
          END
          ELSE BEGIN -- SQL Server authentication
              -- obtain password and sid
                  SET @PWD_varbinary = CAST( LOGINPROPERTY( @name, 'PasswordHash' ) AS varbinary (256) )
              EXEC sp_hexadecimal @PWD_varbinary, @PWD_string OUT
              EXEC sp_hexadecimal @SID_varbinary,@SID_string OUT

              -- obtain password policy state
              SELECT @is_policy_checked = CASE is_policy_checked WHEN 1 THEN 'ON' WHEN 0 THEN 'OFF' ELSE NULL END FROM sys.sql_logins WHERE name = @name
              SELECT @is_expiration_checked = CASE is_expiration_checked WHEN 1 THEN 'ON' WHEN 0 THEN 'OFF' ELSE NULL END FROM sys.sql_logins WHERE name = @name

                  SET @tmpstr = 'CREATE LOGIN ' + QUOTENAME( @name ) + ' WITH PASSWORD = ' + @PWD_string + ' HASHED, SID = ' + @SID_string + ', DEFAULT_DATABASE = [' + @defaultdb + ']'

              IF ( @is_policy_checked IS NOT NULL )
              BEGIN
                SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + ', CHECK_POLICY = ' + @is_policy_checked
              END
              IF ( @is_expiration_checked IS NOT NULL )
              BEGIN
                SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + ', CHECK_EXPIRATION = ' + @is_expiration_checked
              END
          END
          IF (@denylogin = 1)
          BEGIN -- login is denied access
            SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + '; DENY CONNECT SQL TO ' + QUOTENAME( @name )
          END
          ELSE IF (@hasaccess = 0)
          BEGIN -- login exists but does not have access
            SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + '; REVOKE CONNECT SQL TO ' + QUOTENAME( @name )
          END
          IF (@is_disabled = 1)
          BEGIN -- login is disabled
            SET @tmpstr = @tmpstr + '; ALTER LOGIN ' + QUOTENAME( @name ) + ' DISABLE'
          END
          PRINT @tmpstr
        END

        FETCH NEXT FROM login_curs INTO @SID_varbinary, @name, @type, @is_disabled, @defaultdb, @hasaccess, @denylogin
         END
      CLOSE login_curs
      DEALLOCATE login_curs
      RETURN 0
      GO

This awesome stored procedure is created, you can then run it as so:

EXEC sp_help_revlogin

The output is what would be needed to create the users, and their associated SID’s on a separate instance of SQL server. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918992

You can also pull the details from a single database, for example:

select name, sid from syslogins where password  is not null and name != 'sa'

You can then use this output to manually recreate the logins:

exec sp_addlogin @loginame='user', @passwd='password', @sid=sid

I personally see this as useful when I do not have access to the source installation to run the first set of scripts, and am only supplied a backup.