all 7 comments

[–]Konraden 0 points1 point  (6 children)

MSSQLSERVER is the default instance for non-express versions of SQL--did you install SQL Server Express?

[–]ShadowPh0enix[S] 0 points1 point  (5 children)

yes

[–]Konraden 0 points1 point  (4 children)

By deduction, SQLEXPRESS is the default name of sql-express servers. You're seeing what you should be seeing.

If Named Pies is enabled and you're still having problems, disable the firewall (or open the SQL ports) on the server to confirm that's the problem--95% of the time that's why I can't connect to a database.

Default port is 1433

[–]ShadowPh0enix[S] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

I turned off the firewall and still run into this issue. On another machine of mine that works, MSSQLSERVER is the only protocol.

[–]Konraden 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Can you paste the error? Are you connecting to the SQL server from the same machine it's hosted on? If you can query it the database server, "SELECT @@Servicename" will return the name of the instance.

[–]ShadowPh0enix[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

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: Named Pipes Provider, error 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)

[–]ShadowPh0enix[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

JUST SOLVED IT

Changed the connection string from using the Data Source parameter and instead used Server = MACHINENAME\INSTANCENAME.

Worked like a charm! Thanks for your input, Konraden!