Perform admin tasks (e.g. create database, add diagram support) in SQL Server when not connected to domain My situation: I have installed SQL Express on my machine, while logged in as a domain user. I work remotely so I need to connect to a VPN to be on the domain, but I often prefer not to work while attached to the domain so my packets don't have to travel across the country. My user account has local admin rights (win 7).

My problem is very similar to this one. I receive the same error message when I try to do "admin-y" things, like creating new databases or adding database diagram support to existing databases. The catch is that the error only happens when I am NOT attached to the VPN (and therefore my machine cannot reach the domain controller).

Is there a way to allow SQL Server to trust my login credentials when I'm not connected to the VPN?
Another solution is to create an SQL Server Log on and give it sysadmin permissions.  This avoids using windows entirely for authentication.  This is what the SA account on SQL Server is, a special SQL Server log in (which i normally disable log on once installed and another admin user is created) with sysadmin privileges.

This would probably be the best bet as it does not require creation of a local user on your machine and having to run SSMS in a different manner every time, just select Sql Server authentication when logging in and use the new credentials.