How to connect to local instance of SQL Server 2008 Management Studio Express ?

I just installed SQL Server 2008 Management studio Express on my Vista machine.

i tried connecting to local machine using :

.\sqlexpress, (local)\sqlexpress, or .\SQLExpress, MyPCNAME\SQLExpress

nothing is working, getting this error:

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Cannot connect to PC-NAME\SQLEXPRESS. A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified)
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On my vista machine i haven't installed anything else other than SSMSE2008 and power shell 1.0 that's it, is there anything else that needs to be installed ?

he problem is i don't see anything in SQL Server configuration, i took a screenshot of all the options, here it is:

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/9085/sq3q.jpg

asp__developer said:

user="Mike Williams"]

he problem is i don't see anything in SQL Server configuration, i took a screenshot of all the options, here it is:

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/9085/sq3q.jpg

Can you try (re)installing the SQL Server Engine? Probably you miss something out there.

Hey hajan, i just installed SQL Server 2008 Express and PROBLEM SOLVED !!!

Thanks a lot...

asp__developer said:

user="Mike Williams"]

Hey hajan, i just installed SQL Server 2008 Express and PROBLEM SOLVED !!!

Thanks a lot...

Yep. I supposed the problem was that! :)

This is my last post reply for today. I have to go and take some rest. I'm very sick with flu. :((

P.S. Don't forget to close the thread ;)

Hi I have the same problem with connecting my asp.net web site to the server(( the only difference that i use sql server 2005 express and i have sql server management.

i added this in the web.config file

<add name="Northwind" connectionString="Data Source=VERA-PC\SQLEXPRESS; &#xA; Initial Catalog=Northwind; &#xA; user=sa;password=;"/>

but it doesn't see it

Hi @Vera and Welcome to CodeASP.NET Community.

1. Can you please tell us what error do you get?

2. What are the $#xA word sin your connection string?

You can create file on your Desktop, name it test.udl (with UDL extension) and try to create connection with it. If it connects successfully, you can get the connection string by opening the UDL file with notepad.

See my blog post here.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Hajan

Hey thanks a lot for replying to my question, but I figured it out . I just needed to add trusted_connection=true to the code in the web.config file

rusalka805 said:

user="Vera Cardoso"]

Hey thanks a lot for replying to my question, but I figured it out . I just needed to add trusted_connection=true to the code in the web.config file

 

Nice! :)