Add windows user to a particular database in SQL Server I have a windows user who I want to add to just one database SalesDeals on the server. I added them in SalesDeals-&gt; Security -&gt; Users section of the Database and gave them db_datareader permissions on the database. I cannot add them in the Top level Security section since I don't have permissions for that.

The issue is when the user tries to connect to the server CS01\CS01 they get login failed for the user error.

Do I need to get them added to the top level Server -> Security -> Users section for them to be able to connect to the Database.

Thanks
Yes, you must first create a Login on the SQL Server instance, then create a User in the database which maps to that Login.

Without a Login, the user cannot be authenticated to SQL Server (unless you're using a Contained Database, which is not a feature of your version of SQL Server), so they won't be able to access the database.