Cannot register default instance MSSQLSERVER in SQL Server 2008

Question

I have installed SQL Server 2008 Developer on Windows 7 (64 bit). In SQL Management Studio I cannot register the default instance MSSQLSERVER. It cannot find it although the

Answer 1

Check if the server allows remote connections on TCP/IP port 1433.

this can be checked by SQL Server 2008 configuration manager.

Go to network configuration and check if tcp/ip is enabled. If not enable this one.

Answer 2

I always connected as:

[machine_name]/[instance_name]

and it wasn't able to connect. What works is connecting simply as:

[machine_name]

This is probably due to the fact that I am running a DEFAULT instance.