Thanks for the advice.

I first installed SQL 2005 Express, then .NET Framework, and then the Management Studio. All from the Microsoft site.

Maybe I should uninstall them. And then start over.

I...

I'm looking through the services and can't find anything with the SQL name in it.

Sorry. I feel like a total idiot.

That's just it. What is the instance_name? Can I change this somehow to a default instance? Maybe get the installation wizard to open again to select this...

I tried your suggestions (. or 127.0.0.1) but get an error.

Cannot connect to 127.0.0.1

Additional information:

A network-related or instance-specific error occured while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server...

The login screen says:

Server Type: Database Engine

Server Name:___________________

Authentication: Windows Authentication

Running Windows XP.

Why can't I logon to my local laptop system?

When browsing I get no option to select my...

That was it. Thanks a bunch. Now I can continue learning Sql Server.

Chuck

Thanks everyone for your suggestions:

I did go into the properties of the SQL Server Management Studio and changed the properties to Run as Administrator.

I check the actual file and it's...

How can I find out it I server rights.

I am logged in on my local computer using Windows authentication.

Chuck

So I moved the files to the directory you specified.

Now I get an error that the file is read only. Error: 3906