Connection String for MS SQL Server 2008 using Windows Authentication

Question

MS SQL Server and the web application are both on the same machine.

In web.config, I have:

connectionString=" Server=COMPUTER_NAME\MSSQLSERVER; Database=MyDatabase; Integrated Security=true" name="ApplicationServices" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" 

I created a new Windows user account named MyWebsite. This account is assigned to application pool and my web application is using it.

In SQL Server Management Studio:

• MyWebsite account is added in Security -> Logins
• MyWebsite account is added in MyDatabse -> Security -> Users.
• db_owner option is checked

In SQL Server Security Manager, all protocols are allowed.

I'm still getting the following error message:

 A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server' Error 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified 

Am I missing something?

Answer 1

You don't need to specify the instance name when you're connecting to the default instance.

Just use COMPUTER_NAME for the server.

Answer 2

It's a lot easier in the long run if you just use localhost instead of the server or instance name for your connection settings.