A few months back I had to work on a project where we used SQL Express 2008. So I used the standard web installation package from Microsoft, found at http://www.microsoft.com/express/sql/download/ . I've installed the needed tools including SQL Server Management Studio. However, once I ran it, and clicked on the 'browse' button, the list of servers was empty! I did not have such problems with SQL Server EXPRESS 2005 instances - I was able to browse 2005 edition instances with SQL Server Management Studio from the installation package of 2008 edition.
As you can see, the SQLEXPRESS instance is running on the local PC:
The solution was simple, I had to write just .\{InstanceName} in the 'Server Name' drop-down list, as shown on the image below, where {InstanceName} is the name of the local instance of the server, while '.\' is a relative path.
As you can see, the SQLEXPRESS instance is running on the local PC:
The solution was simple, I had to write just .\{InstanceName} in the 'Server Name' drop-down list, as shown on the image below, where {InstanceName} is the name of the local instance of the server, while '.\' is a relative path.
I hope this helps a few headbangs in the wall. :)
