More Info - HELP - Cannot connect to SQL Server 2005 Express

I've installed the SQL Server 2005 Express and also the MS SQL Server Management Studio 2005 Express
But when i load the latter and try to connect to my database I get the below error message.

TITLE: Connect to Server

Cannot connect to DEVCOMP\SQLEXPRESS.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
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) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: -1)
For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&EvtSrc=MSSQLServer&EvtID=-1&LinkId=20476
Further Details:

Further to the above error me, I got the following when I clicked on "Surface Area Configuration for Services and Connections"

TITLE: Surface Area Configuration for Services and Connections - localhost
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Computer localhost does not exist on the network, or the computer cannot be configured remotely. Verify that the remote computer has the required Windows Management Instrumentation components and then try again.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
[C:\WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.SqlServer.SmoEnum\9.0.242.0__89845dcd8080cc91\Microsoft.SqlServer.SmoEnum.dll] InternalsVisibleTo declarations cannot have a version, culture, public key token, or processor architecture specified. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo)
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|||Check to see if the SQL Server Express service is started.

Also, you may want to change the network settings to accept TCP/IP and remote connections. Check out this blog entry:

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlexpress/archive/2005/05/05/415084.aspx

Let me know if this doesn't fix your problem.

Thanks,
Rob|||

The remote connectivity is disabled by default. You can activate it using the SQL Server 2005 Surface Area Configuration SQLSAC.EXE.

If localhost is not known, then either your hosts. file is corrupt or blocked by a firewall (for any tests, deactivate the local firewall temporarily). You can use 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost.

The hosts file is located in your windows directory under

C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts.

Regards
Axel

|||

I have checked out the blog and performed all the steps. I have restarted the services and still no luck.

I am a newbie to webdev so started with the sample personal website. I followed the instructions to the letter but cant get past Ctrl-F5 to initialize without the error.

Where do I goto from here?

Paul