User Instance Failure error when creating a Service-based database in VS 2008 and using SQL Server Express 2005 on Windows 7

Question

I just installed SQL-Server Express 2005 on my machine and I am trying to create a Service-based Database for a C# application. But when I try to create it I end up with the following error message:

Failed to generate a user instance of SQL Server due to a failure in starting the process for the user instance.
The connection will be closed.

I'm completely new to SQL-Sever and C#, so what do I need to do to fix this problem?
(I'm coming from a MySQL/Java background.)

Answer 1

Try deleting the files in the "c:\Documents and Settings[user]\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Data\SQLEXPRESS" folder.

Answer 2

If you are using AttachDbFilename attribute in connection string like this:

Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;AttachDbFilename=PATH/YOURDB.mdf;Integrated
Security=True;Connect Timeout=30;User Instance=True

then you need to enable user instance in SQL Server 2005 Express edition. Open SQL Server Management Studio Express or SQL Server Console and run following commands:

exec sp_configure 'user instances enabled', 1
reconfigure

Answer 3

Okay found the solution. Since I was using Windows7 I had to delete that directory from

C:\Users\leeand00\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Data\SQLEXPRESS instead.

Thanks all!