Microsoft KB Archive/834124

= How to troubleshoot a SQL Server 8198 error =

Article ID: 834124

Article Last Modified on 4/25/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition

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IN THIS TASK

 * Summary
 * When an 8198 error might occur
 * Information about the Xp_logininfo system stored procedure
 * Troubleshooting the 8198 error message
 * REFERENCES



SUMMARY
This article contains guidelines and directions that you can use to troubleshoot an 8198 error. However, this article does not contain a complete list of what might cause an 8198 error. Also, some problems may be specific to your environment.

First, this article discusses when an 8198 error might occur. Next, the article provides some information about the xp_Logininfo system stored procedure. Then the article shows you how to troubleshoot an 8198 error.

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When an 8198 error might occur
When you perform an action on an instance of SQL Server that requires SQL Server to resolve the credentials of a Microsoft Windows NT domain user account, you may receive an error message that is similar to any one of the following.

Error message 1

Server: Msg 8198, Level 16, State XX, Procedure , Line 

Could not obtain information about Windows NT group/user ''.

Error message 2

ODBC error 8198 (42000) Could not obtain information about Windows NT group/user ''.

Error message 3

The job failed. Unable to determine if the owner () of job has server access (reason: Could not obtain information about Windows NT group/user ''. [SQLSTATE 42000] (Error 8198)).

To resolve the credentials of a Windows NT domain user account, SQL Server uses the xp_logininfo system stored procedure. Here is a list of the common scenarios where you may notice that the xp_logininfo system stored procedure fails and causes the 8198 error.
 * When you use an xp_sendmail extended stored procedure.
 * When you set up replication.
 * When you run a SQL Server Agent job.

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Information about the Xp_logininfo system stored procedure
Xp_logininfo is a system stored procedure. The xp_logininfo system stored procedure is not a SQL Server extended stored procedure, contrary to its name. The xp_logininfo system stored procedure invokes several Microsoft Windows API calls to retrieve information about the Windows domains and the Windows user accounts.

Based on the Windows API call that caused the failure, the xp_logininfo system stored procedure may return the 8198 error with a relevant SQL Server state value. The SQL Server state value indicates the nature of the failure.

SQL Server may run the xp_logininfo system stored procedure to retrieve information about the Windows domains and the user accounts, even if the user does not do so explicitly. Therefore, if you receive an 8198 error message and the error message mentions the xp_logininfo system stored procedure as the procedure, you must use SQL Profiler to trace and to troubleshoot the exact point of failure.

Every time the xp_logininfo system stored procedure fails, the 8198 error is raised with a relevant SQL Server state. Even if the user does not run the xp_logininfo system stored procedure explicitly, SQL Server may use the xp_logininfo system stored procedure to retrieve information about the Windows domains and the user accounts when it is required. In the following error message, the XX value indicates the SQL Server state at the time when the failure occurred.

Server: Msg 8198, Level 16, State XX, Procedure , Line 

Could not obtain information about Windows NT group/user ''.

The following table lists some of the common SQL Server state values that you may notice in the error message when an 8198 error occurs.

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Troubleshooting the 8198 error message
Because the xp_logininfo system stored procedure may be used by SQL Server to resolve the credentials of a Windows NT domain user account, Microsoft recommends that you use SQL Profiler to trace the actual cause of the error message.

Here is a list of some of the issues that may cause the 8198 error.


 * Network issues.
 * An issue with the name of a Windows Local Group or a Windows Global Group.
 * A conflict with the EVERYONE group.
 * An xp_sendmail extended stored procedure failure.
 * A SQL Server Agent Job failure.
 * A replication configuration failure.

More information about each issue follows. A suggested resolution for each issue is also provided.

Network issues
You may receive the 8198 error if the SQL Server logon account is in a different Windows domain than the Windows account that is used to run the stored procedure. To resolve the problem, make sure that the following conditions are true:
 * There is a trust relationship between the two Windows domains.
 * The TCP/IP ports that are required to establish the trust are enabled on the two Windows domains.

Note If the relevant ports on the Windows domains are not enabled, you may still receive the 8198 error, even when a trust relationship exists between the two domains.

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

179442 How to configure a firewall for domains and trusts

To verify whether the conditions that are mentioned earlier are true, test whether you can assign folder permissions on a computer that is in the domain to users of another domain. If you cannot assign the permissions, the issue may be network related.

Note If you use Windows Explorer to assign the folder permission to a user on another domain, make sure that you explicitly select the other domain's name from the list of domains.

An issue with the name of a Windows Local Group or a Windows Global Group
You may receive the 8198 error when you run the stored procedure by using a Windows user of the Windows Local Group or the Windows Global Group if the Windows Local Group or the Windows Global Group has the same name as any one of the following:
 * The Windows domain name.
 * The computer name.
 * Another Windows domain that has a trusted relationship with the domain.

To work around this problem, perform one of the following tasks.
 * Change the Windows Local Group name or the Windows Global Group name.
 * Remove the user from the Windows Local Group or the Windows Global Group that has the same name as the Windows domain.

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

233161 BUG: Xp_logininfo returns error 8198

You may receive the 8198 error if there is a Windows Local Group or a Windows Global Group that was created by a user who has the same name as the reserved group EVERYONE. The name conflict may cause the authentication of the Windows account to fail.

The reserved group EVERYONE does not appear in the list of groups that is in the User Manager for Domains or in the Computer Management Windows administration tools. However, if you manually create a Local group or a Global Domain group and you name it EVERYONE, the EVERYONE group will be in the list of groups in User Manager for Domains.

To resolve this problem, delete the EVERYONE group that you created manually.

An xp_sendmail extended stored procedure failure
The xp_sendmail extended stored procedure may fail and return the 8198 error if the client computer that is running the xp_sendmail extended stored procedure is not in the same domain as the SQL Server computer, and the two domains do not have a trust relationship.

To resolve this problem, perform one of the following tasks.  In the client's Windows domain, create a domain user with the same user name and the same password as that of the SQL Server startup account. Add the SQL Server startup account to the Pre-Windows 2000 compatible access groupin the SQL Server clients Windows domain.

For additional information about how to use the Pre-Windows 2000 Compatible Access group, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

303973 HOW TO: Add users to the Pre-Windows 2000 Compatible Access Group

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SQL Server Agent Job failure
You may receive the 8198 error if a SQL Server Agent job that is owned by a Microsoft Windows NT authenticated user fails. This problem may occur when SQL Server is running on a Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system computer, and the computer's domain does not have a Pre-Windows 2000 Compatible Access Group.

For additional information about this problem and for a suggested workaround, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

241643 PRB: 8198 error message returned from job owned by Windows NT Authenticated User

A replication configuration failure
When you configure replication on an instance of SQL Server, the replication agent may not start. You may receive the 8198 error.

If the replication agent does not start, examine the history of the SQL Server Agent job that was created for the replication agent job. You may be able to find the 8198 error logged in the job history.

The following list describes two possible causes for this problem.
 * The SQL Server service uses an account that does not have sufficient administrative credentials on the Windows domain. In this situation, the xp_logininfo system stored procedure is run by using the security context of the SQL Server service. Because the account does not have sufficient administrative credentials to enumerate the properties of the user in the domain, the xp_logininfo system stored procedure fails, and you receive the 8198 error.

To resolve this problem, change the startup account of the SQL Server service to a Windows domain account.
 * The SQL Server services and the SQL Server Agent services on the Publisher and on the Subscriber use security contexts of different Windows domains.

To resolve this problem, use either of the following two methods.
 * Use the same Windows domain user account to run the SQL Server services and the SQL Server Agent services.
 * Create a Windows domain user account on the Publisher and on the Subscriber that have identical user names and passwords.

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