"Server type" is disabled in SQL Server Management Studio

Hi,

I'm trying to connect to a remote server using SQL Server management studio express.

But the "server type" field is disabled. I'm not able to select the server type. It is set to "Database Engine". Because of this (I Guess) the connection to the remote SQL server 2005 is failing giving the following error:

"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 a connection to SQL Server) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 53)"

Please let me know how to solve this issue.

Thanks & Regards,
Bijesh

Hi there,

Is the remote server running either of SQL Server 2005 Express Edition or SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition?

The error mesasge you posted seems to indicate that the remote server won't accept a connection. I don't think this has anything to do with the value in the "Server Type" field.

If you're trying to connect to a remote instance of SQL Server 2005 Express or Developer Edition then remote connections are disabled by default & this would explain why you are unable to connect. If you perform the steps outlined in the below link on your remote server, you should be able to connect to the remote server:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;914277

Also check that the name you are providing for the remote server is correct. If the remote server is running a default instance then the name of the SQL Server is the name of the computer. If the remote server is running a named instance then the name of the SQL Server is <Computer Name>\<Instance Name>

Hope that helps a bit, but sorry if it doesn't
|||SQL Server Express can only connect to the relational engine - that's why server type is grayed out.|||

This means the client couldn't make a connection to the server. Most often, the cause is because the server is not configured to accept connections from other machines. Second most often, there is a firewall getting in the way.

Make sure the remote server is configured to accept named pipes connections. You can check this using the Surface Area Configuration tool.

If named pipes don't work for you, switch to using TCP/IP connections, make sure the server is configured to accept TCP/IP connections, and make sure the IP port used by SQL Server is open in your firewall (by default, this is port 1433).

Hope this helps,
Steve