I've succesfull connected to a database on a remote server, created tables,
working fine. I wanted to create a database on my local machine using
Management studio to do some experiments. I went to the ASPnet_regsql.exe to
create it and was unable to complete the task. It errored out saying it
could not create it.

Can I create a local database on my computer, or as I think it's referred
to, an instance?

Steve Byrd (SteveByrd (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com) writes:
I don't know why you used this ASPnet_regsql.exe (never heard of it before)
to create a database. The normal way would be say "CREATE DATABASE db" from
a query window.

Of course, you need to have an instance of SQL Server installed on your
computer. It is not clear from your post if you have.



--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel (AT) sommarskog (DOT) se

Books Online for SQL Server 2005 at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...ads/books.mspx
Books Online for SQL Server 2000 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinf...ons/books.mspx

And to be perfectly honset I don't know the answer. What I can tell you is
that I went back into the SQL Server INstallation center (2008 Express) to
confirm all my installation settings and for every option, I was met with a
dialogue box that said it needed the installation media, which I don't have
becasue I downloaded it from Microsoft.com.

When I try to connect to what I belelve I installed I get this message:
TITLE: Connect to Database Engine
------------------------------

Cannot connect to STEVECOMPAQDESK\SQLEXPRESS.

------------------------------
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

A connection was successfully established with the server, but then an error
occurred during the login process. (provider: Shared Memory Provider, error:
0 - No process is on the other end of the pipe.) (Microsoft SQL Server,
Error: 233)

For help, click:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?ProdN...3&LinkId=20476

That link takes me to a message that says

Use the SQL Server Surface Area Configuration tool to allow SQL Server to
accept remote connections. For more information about the SQL Server Surface
Area Configuration Tool, see Surface Area Configuration for Services and
Connections.

I haven't figured out how to get there yet.



"Erland Sommarskog" wrote:

Steve Byrd (SteveByrd (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com) writes:
Well, I guess you should be able to point to where you extracted the
download.

Anyway, in the Start menu, find the SQL Server program group, and
start SQL Server Configuration Utility if you have it. (If you don't,
you probably never installed an SQL Server instance.) Here you can
view which instance name you have given to SQL Server, and whether
the service is running.


--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel (AT) sommarskog (DOT) se

Links for SQL Server Books Online:
SQL 2008: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/cc514207.aspx
SQL 2005: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/bb895970.aspx
SQL 2000: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinf...ons/books.mspx