hi there, im posting this question and i will answer it. i was trying to add .mdf and .ldf file to the visual web developer on windows 7 and it gave me an error about sql express 2005 when trying to open the files after adding them to App_Data folder. after many tries (with many errors about compatibility issues) i had to uninstall everything and install again visual web developer and it gave me this error(Failed to generate a user instance of SQL Server due to a failure in starting the process for the user instance. The connection will be closed.) when adding a database. so what i had to do is DELETE this path (and all files inside):
<tt>
</tt> <tt>C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_USERNAME \Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Data\SQLEXPRESS</tt>

(Dont forget to replace the green text in the path with your current username (if you are not sure just go to C:\Documents and Settings\ path to figure it out). i went to App_Data folder, add existing item, and then added the .mdf and .ldf files. and then it showed tables

Hi there,

Thanks for posting this. The exact same issue has come up a few times before, and most of the times your solution fixed the problem. Good to have a clear description of the solution here.

Cheers,

Imar

__________________
Imar Spaanjaars
http://Imar.Spaanjaars.Com
Follow me on Twitter

Author of Beginning ASP.NET 4.5 : in C# and VB, Beginning ASP.NET Web Pages with WebMatrix
and Beginning ASP.NET 4 : in C# and VB.
Did this post help you? Click the button below this post to show your appreciation!