Error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server

Posted by Vasudev Seeram on January 3, 2009 Leave a comment (0) Go to comments

When connecting to SQL Server database using SQL Server Management Studio, the following error appears:

TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio
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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: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 – Could not open a connection to SQL Server) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 2)

For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&EvtSrc=MSSQLServer&EvtID=2&LinkId=20476

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BUTTONS:

OK
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Solution:

The SQL Server instance service (MSSQLSERVER) is not started. Start the service using the Control Panel Services panel, or use SQL Server Configuration Manager:

SQL Server Configuration Manager (Local) > SQL Server 2005 Services > SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER)