How to login to SQL Server 2005 Express Management Studio?

Question

Hello

I've just installed SQL Server 2005 Express and I'm trying to login to Management Studio but I don't know what the "Server Name" is to be able to login.

I've tried:

localhost\SQLEXPRESS
127.0.0.1\SQLEXPRESS
SQLEXPRESS
<computer name>\SQLEXPRESS
<username>\SQLEXPRESS

The authentication mode is Windows Authentication.

The error message I'm getting is:

Could not connect to <computer name>\SQLEXPRESS.

Additional information
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. (proveder: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified) (Microsoft SQL Server)

Does anyone point me in the right direction?

Answer 1

Is the SQL Server Express service even up and running??

The local machine can be defined as . or (local) for SQL Server, and the SQL Server Express instance name is SQLExpress by default.

So .\SQLExpress or (local)\SQLExpress ought to work.

If they don't, maybe the service isn't up and running??