Set up SQL Server 2008 Express

  • So I am very new at the setup process for SQL Server. I have used one, but this is the first one I am creating.

    I have installed SQL Server 2008 Express with the Advanced portion on a freshly loaded Windows Server 2008 R2 machine, nothing installed but .Net 4.5, Java, and SQL Server.

    I have the .mdf and .ldf files from the detached database on the old SQL server. When I installed SQL Server I basically left everything to default except I did click the "Add current user" button on the screen that mentions authentication. Everything else was next, next, etc.

    I'm to understand to attach this database I need to open Server Management Studio, but this is where the process halts. I had originally installed SQL Server 2012 Express, but once I got into attaching the database the process failed. I assume this is why the vendor mentioned I should use 2008 instead. I did not see a login screen or any type of request for authentication when I was using 2012, but I am seeing it in 2008, and the setups were very identical. IT doesn't seem to matter what I put in there, it gives an error message.

    On the screen shot, if I use the dropdown to reselect the default of "Database Engine", the server name "(local)" appears, and then I click connect.

    This is the error message I receive.

    Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

  • I can't see your screenshots but try this

    [SERVERNAME]\[INSTANCE NAME]

    For Example, if your server name is SQLSERVER1 and your instance name is SQLEXPRESS,

    connect to SQLSERVER1\SQLEXPRESS

    Also, make sure the sql server service is running.

  • That worked like a charm. Thanks a ton!

    I'm getting the same error when I try to attach the database, but I will contact our vendor about it since now I'm where they told me to be.

    Thanks again.

    EDIT: I found the problem I think. They instructed me to use SQL Server Express 2008 and it looks like there is a 4GB database size limit I was unaware of. My luck, our database is 5GB.

  • Can you post the error? I can't see the image.

  • 4096 MB is the max size that you can have for a database using SQL Server Express. The database you are attaching is larger than that which is why you're getting an error.

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