I am currently trying to connect to my localdb on MSSQL 2012 Express.
I have downloaded and installed the official microsoft driver from http://www.microsoft.com/en-
The PDO Extension is not the same as the native driver Microsoft is offering. For PDO you must enable
extension=php_pdo_mssql.dll
in your php.ini.
Normally this file (php_pdo_mssql.dll) should be in your PHP extension-directory (C:...\php\ext). If it's not there you can download PHP from http://windows.php.net/download/ and just take the extension from a package there (take one that correspond with your PHP version of course).
//edit: just read you latest comment. This extension is available for a very long time now and can be considered working. If you are not allowed to use it you must rewrite your code to use the functions the native driver offers for PHP.