completely agree, was just trying to figure, if there is a way to do it without a code change involved.

The only reason for me to elevate the user permission to 'sysadmin' server role is to access a link server from sql 2014 to sql 2000 connected via system DNS ODBC connection.

I tried everything, the link for this user dw works only if the user is having sysadmin role.

Thank You,

Kranp