In SQL Server Management Studio, when I right click my database and click properties, a window opens showing the permissions users have on the database. I have recently added a user to active directory with the intention of granting this user permission on my database. The problem is, in active directory, I see a lot of users, but in SQL Server Management Studio, I only see very few of these users. The user I just created doesn't show up either when I hit search->browse or when I search for the exact name. What am I doing wrong? Shouldn't SQL Server be able to connect with Active Directory to get the user list? Additionally, it seems like all of the users that are showing up, are all from one group in AD…
Edit
just saying thanks all for the answers…
Summary of answers and the solution
Users need to be added to the main Security->Logins folder BEFORE they show up in a particular database's Properties->Permissions->Users listing. However, since I did not have enough permissions on SQL Server itself, when I went to the main logins folder, I could not see users (even though they were there for my colleague who had more permissions). But since I DID have enough permissions on the database, I COULD see the users there, leading to my confusion.
Best Answer
You need to add their Windows account to the SQL Server instance first. Go to the security folder for the instance, not the database. Add the user you want as a new login there. Once they've been added to the SQL Server instance you can assign them permissions on individual databases.