Problems with remote connections in SQL 2005 (Express)
Versions:
n/a,
FAQ number:
159,
Old FAQ number: 7909
If you come across the following error;
"An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server. When connecting to SQL Server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified)"
One reason could be that you haven't enabled TCP/IP protocol in the SQL Configuration Manager. Another reason could be that the SQL service "SQL Browser" isn't running and handeling automatic assignment of port numbers. If so you might need to specify the port number in the connection string in web.config.
Read the Microsoft article below for more information on how to configure SQL Server 2005 (and express) for remote connections.
Note: If you are running sqlexpress you will need to enter "machinename/sqlexpress" instead of "local" since sqlexpress runs as a separate database.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;914277