Trouble connectingto Sql Server 2005 Management Studio Express?
I have installed SQL 2005 Express Edition on Visual Studio 2005 .Corectly, no errors to be found. I also have:
Local & Remote Connections using TCP/IP only turne don
SQL Browser is running as well.
I have tried connecting with the most recent CTP of Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express 9.00.1399.00
When trying to connect using the SA account I recieve:
'An error has occured 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: Named Pipes Provider, error 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 53)
PS: I remember having that issue 2 years ago , I struggled for about 4 H and the fix was a simple thing to do in the log in area but can't remember what 
Comments
You're not connecting via TCP / IP, you're trying to connect via named pipes, which only works on a local network.
In Management Studio Express, at the login screen, click the Options button, then the Connection Properties tab, and next to Network Protocol, choose TCP / IP.
Click Options again to close, then click Connect.
Maybe You should use the same protocol:
>using TCP/IP only
>Provider: Named Pipes Provider, error 40
You usually put both the server's name (aka Computer name) and the SQL Server instance name - separated with a backslash. For example, if the server's name is "MYSERVER" and the SQL Server instance is "SQLEXPRESS" then enter: MYSERVER\SQLEXPRESS You can determine the Computer name by logging into the server, opening a command prompt and typing: echo %COMPUTERNAME% You can determine the SQL Server instance name by finding the 'SQL Server' Windows service and looking at the parameter(s) that start that service... but for SQL Server Express 2005 & 2008 it is "SQLEXPRESS". If you're trying to connect remotely, you may have more configuration to do - see the source link below: