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I have installed SQL Server 2008 Developer on Windows 7 (64 bit). In SQL Management Studio I cannot register the default instance MSSQLSERVER. It cannot find it although the service is running. I get the message:

Cannot connect to PHOENIX\MSSQLSERVER.

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: 25 - Connection string is not valid) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 87)

However SQL Server Management Studio does show the SQL Server 2005 Express instance (that was installed with VS 2008 Pro) which appeared as already registered. I am using Windows Authentication as I installed it in mixed mode.

How do I connect to an MSSQLSERVER instance using SQL Server Management Studio?

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
28

I always connected as:

[machine_name]/[instance_name]

and it wasn't able to connect. What works is connecting simply as:

[machine_name]

This is probably due to the fact that I am running a DEFAULT instance.

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0

Check if the server allows remote connections on TCP/IP port 1433.

this can be checked by SQL Server 2008 configuration manager.

Go to network configuration and check if tcp/ip is enabled. If not enable this one.

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