How do I fix the error 'Named Pipes Provider, error 40 - Could not open a connection to' SQL Server'?

Question

I can\'t seem to connect to my database from a site. I get this error:

Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server

Answer 1

In my case, I opened SQL Server Management Studio and searched for SQLEXPRESS in my Database engine. It had two instances and I selected the correct one.