Assumes:

• Microsoft SQL Server 2005
• Microsoft Windows XP, Micrsoft Windows Server 2003

Fix:

1. Reboot or otherwise restart the SQL Server service. A failed update will generally leave the service stopped or in an unpredictable state.
2. In Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (or similar) execute the following:
    
   EXEC sp_validatelogins
   GO
    
3. This should generate a list of SIDs/accounts that are no longer present in Windows. If no accounts are listed then proceed with this procedure with caution. You might have run into another issue.
4. Determine the current Windows group names of the SQL Server accounts (Start | Run | “lusrmgr.msc”). They will be in the form SQLServer2005*$CompName$Instance.
5. Download/obtain PsGetSid from Sysinternals/Microsoft.
6. Use PsGetSid to get the SID’s of these groups:
    
   psgetsid groupname
    
7. In the Windows Registry navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.x\Setup, where “.x” is the instance of SQL Server with the issue (usually “.1″, for a single instance install).
8. Note the data in the following values: SQLGroup, AGTGroup, FTSGroup, ASGroup. These keys map to the Windows groups like so:
     
   SQLServer2005MSSQLUser$CompName$Instance > SQLGroup
   SQLServer2005SQLAgentUser$CompName$Instance > AGTGroup
   SQLServer2005MSFTEUser$CompName$Instance > FTSGroup
   SQLServer2005???$CompName$Instance > ASGroup
9. Replace all SID’s in the Registry that differ from the Windows groups (match up according to above table).
10. Attempt to change the SQL Server service account through the SQL Server Configuration utility. If the change succeeds this fix most likely worked.
11. Apply any service packs and/or updates.