SQL Server 2008 R2 can't connect to local database in Management Studio

Question

I am using SQL Server 2008 R2 Express.

I first installed SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Management Studio and then I installed SQL Server 2008 R2 Express. I have the ins

Answer 1

Okay so there might be various reasons behind Sql Server Management Studio's(SSMS) above behaviour:

1.It seems that if our SSMS hasn't been opened for quite some while, the OS puts it to sleep.The solution is to manually activate our SQL server as shown below:

• Go to Computer Management-->Services and Applications-->Services. As you see that the status of this service is currently blank which means that it has stopped.
• Double click the SQL Server option and a wizard box will popup as shown below.Set the startup type to "Automatic" and click on the start button which will start our SQL service.
• Now check the status of your SQL Server. It will display as "Running".
• Also you need to check that other associated services which are also required by our SQL Server to fully function are also up and running such as SQL Server Browser,SQL Server Agent,etc.

2.The second reason could be due to incorrect credentials entered.So enter in the correct credentials.

3.If you happen to forget your credentials then follow the below steps:

• First what you could do is sign in using "Windows Authentication" instead of "SQL Server Authentication".This will work only if you are logged in as administrator.
• Second case what if you forget your local server name? No issues simply use "." instead of your server name and it should work.

NOTE: This will only work for local server and not for remote server.To connect to a remote server you need to have an I.P. address of your remote server.