As you may all know I have Windows Vista Ultimate x64 and last post I talked about upgrading to SQL Server 2005 SP2. However while starting my first Database Project I encountered the following error.
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Microsoft Visual Studio
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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)
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OK
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It has basically taken me around 24 hours to finally find a solution. The solution was so simple, but yet totally undocumented on if you encounter this error do this. So I am hoping to at least correct that with this post for all the future Googler’s out there.
- In VS 2005 go to
Tools > Options > Database Tools > Design-time Validation Databaseand clear out text box SQL Server Instance Name. Click OK. - Also for good measures I did this under
Database Connectionstoo.
Yeah that is it for some reason localhost isn’t considered a valid SQL Server Instance name. But my problem is solved and I hope this helps somebody else.
Hi Nick,
Thank you SO MUCH for blogging this solution. It was driving me crazy!
You’ve saved what’s left of my hair, lol..
Thanks gain,
Yann
worked for me too, had to clear the sqlexpress on the server name when logging in.
thanx a lot.
Lev
Hi,
Do you need SQL Express running for this functionality ?
I have SQL 2005 Developer edition running on my local pc, but I still get the same error…
Eckard