SQL Server 2005 express edition configuration problems

Question

i want to use SQL Server 2005 Express edition as database for my "thesis" but i have a bit of problem configuring it. I've installed SQL Server 2005 Express edition, SQL 2005 Service Pack 3(sp3) and the Sql Server Management Studio Express.

I opened up the Sql Server 2005 Surface Area configurations, clicked on Surface are Configuration for service and connection> Remote Connections> Local and Remote Connections> Using TCP/IP only. To enable TCP and IP connections but when i click ok i get an error message "Alter failed. (Microsoft.SqlServer.smo)" then under additional information it says "SetEnable failed for server protocol 'TCP' (Microsoft.SqlServer.smo)" and under that t says "Access denied (System.management).

What could be the problem? hmm I'm working on an ACER ASPIRE ONE notebook. Do you think that a notebook doesn't have the capabilities to be an SQL Server database server that's why it has that error message? My OS is Windows 7 btw.

Answer 1

The error message you are seeing is often due to a user permissions problem (you need to run SQL Server Surface Area Configuration tool with admin permissions: choose 'Run As Administrator' when launching the tool).

Have you enabled TCP/NamedPipes from SQL Server Configuration Manger?

Answer 2

Since you are running windows 7, you may have better luck with SQL Server 2008. I remember running in to strange issues with 2005 back on Vista, so I can only imagine even more oddities with SQL 2005 on 7.

I am running 2008 very nicely on my Win 7 box though.