I am trying to set up SQL Server 2008 R2 on my local machine for development. I set it up as well as SQL Server 2008 R2 Management Studio. When I open studio to connect to the database engine, I get this error (MONSTER is the name of my local machine):
TITLE: Connect to Server
Cannot connect to MONSTER.
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. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 2)
Here are the params I have
Server type: database engine
Server name: MONSTER
Authentication: Windows Authentication
Can you help?
You have to enable Named Pipes for SQL Management Studio to be able to connect, even on the local box. Start->All Programs->Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2->Configuration Tools->SQL Configuration Manager. Look at SQL Server Network Configuration->Protocols for [instance name]. Enable Named pipes and restart the SQL Server Service.
Edit: SQL Management Studio uses the Visual Studio shell just in case you wondered why I'm talking about Management Studio instead of Visual Studio.
Have you enabled Named Pipes in the configuration manager like the error message is telling you to? That seems like the most obvious course of action to me.