How To Enable SQL 2005 For Remote Access

Jul 06, 2006
by:   Tim Stanley

If you have recently installed SQL Server 2005, for security purposes, external and remote access is not enabled by default. If you try to connect to a SQL Server database from an external machine you may see one of the following errors.

  • SQL server does not allow remote connections
  • SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified
  • An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server. When connecting to SQL Server 2005,this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections.(provider:Named Pipes Provider,error:40-Could not open connection to SQL Server))
  • Server does not exist or access denied

Three steps to Enable SQL 2005 for Remote Access

  1. Enable the TCP/IP protocol using the Surface Area Configuration Utility
  2. Enable the TCP/IP protocol for the network adapter in the SQL Server Configuration Utility
  3. Start the SQL Server Browser

SQL Server Surface Area Configuration

Remote Connections

SQL Server Configuration Manager

References

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