no find and replace required;
check the name of the instance, and also make sure the instance is running in services.
for example, if i go to the services applet in administrative tools, on my dev machine i see the names here:
i have four different instances.
to take over the default MSSQLSERVER, i type MSSQLSERVER
to take over any of the others, i type only the name of the instance, ie "SQL2012", and the script should work.
I don't have a SQLEXPRESS instance, for example, so i'd get the same error as you if i left it blank.
to take over this server, i'd have to run the script four times, once for each of these:
MSSQLSERVER
SQL2005
SQL2008R2
SQL2012
Lowell
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