Cannot connect to local SQL Server Express 2008 R2
Are you connecting to the local express instance? Try this as your server: .\SQLEXPRESS
The same error can happen if your SQLEXPRESS instance is not started. To verify the service is started:- run services.msc- Look for the "SQL Server (SQLEXPRESS)" service, status should be "Started", if it is not, try to start it manually.
I had the same error and I had to enable TCP/IP protocol and set IPALL TCP Port to 1433 to resolve the issue:
