Invalid connection sql express

devnull

i'm getting an error when trying to connect to a win2003 machine that has only sql 2005 (express) installed. sql compare says unable to retrieve a list of databases (invalid connection)

i can connect to the server using sql management studio express just fine.

how do i fix this?

remote connections are enabled
tried with tcp:servername
tried servername\sqlexpress
tried ip\sqlexpress

even installed sql compare on the server and it still refused to connect using (local) or (local)\sqlexpress

any ideas?

thanks

Brian Donahue

Hello,

Definitely, you'll want to specify the server as SERVERNAME\SQLEXPRESS. If you can't get a connection, make sure that the TCP protocol is enabled and at the top of your protocol list. Short of what you've mentioned above, this is all I can think of.