Change sa password and troubleshhoot TCP/IP connection in MSSQL and SSMS

• 1 First Open SQL Server Managment Studio (Right click on SSMS and then Run As Administrator)
  
• 2 1) Connect to your SQL server instance using Windows Authentication and Server name .\
  2) Open "Object Explorer" in left side
  3) Expand "Security" -> "Logins"
  4) Right click on "sa" and select "Properties"
  5) In "General" select "SQL Server Authentication" and enter new password
  6) In "Status" check if "Login" is enabled
  
• 3 7) Open "Server properties" by right click on your server instance name in object explorer and select "Properties"
  8) In "Security" check if "Server authentication" is "SQL Server and Windows authentication mode"
  9) In "Connections" check if "Allow remote connections" is enabled
  
• 4 Open SQL Server Configuration manager
  
• 5 1) Check if SQL Server Browser service is running if you have named instance
  2) Enable TCP protocol in "Network configuration" then right click on it and enable IP address and port
  3) Right click on SQL server instance name and check "Properties"
  
• N Restart the service if you made any changes
  

References

• http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2007/12/29/sql-server-change-password-of-sa-login-using-management-studio/
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11308921/unable-to-change-the-password-of-sa-in-sql-server-2008
• http://v-consult.be/2011/05/26/recover-sa-password-microsoft-sql-server-2008-r2/
• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/raulga/archive/2007/07/12/disaster-recovery-what-to-do-when-the-sa-account-password-is-lost-in-sql-server-2005.aspx
• http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/05/21/sql-server-fix-error-provider-named-pipes-provider-error-40-could-not-open-a-connection-to-sql-server-microsoft-sql-server-error/
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms177440.aspx