Assigning a domain user to run MSSQLSERVER service 2008R2 I have done this on a server (windows server 2008) before, but can not achieve the same thing on another virtual server

I want a low level domain user to run the MSSQLSERVER service so that I can enable backup to a remote network location, this is working fine on my other SQL Server 2008R2 instance.

I have a domain user called fred@mydomain I have added this user to the server local administrator group and the group SQLServerMSASUser$**MYSERVER**$MSSQLSERVER. This is the group I believe is the one that allows members to run the MSSQLSERVER service

I have created the login in SQL Server for the user and added him to all the server roles but dbcreator and mapped it to all the instance databases as a public database role

HOWEVER when I go to SQL Server Configuration Manager to change the MSSQLSERVER service and selected the fred@mydomain and press apply I get a log on error.

Can anyone suggest what I might have missed please ? I have used Here as my reference
If you check the event log, does the event say something about needing "log on as service" rights?

In my experience you will need to add 'log on as service' rights to the account you select. Although the SQL Server Configuration Manager is supposed to handle this, I've found that it does not always. Try the following:


Log on to your domain controller and load the group policy management console (depending on your AD version)
add 'log on as a service' to the account you created for the SQL Server service in an existing or new group policy object. (maybe ask a sysadmin to assign this right for you)
Load SQL Server configuration manager and set the service account to the account you created