I'm working on Chapter 13 trying to connect to the database that was created in Chapter 12. I see the database in the Solution Explorer and I double click on the database file as instructed in Step #6 on page 444. The Server Explorer opens and the database is listed under "Data Connections" but the icon has a red "X" over it. When I hit the refresh button, I get an error message as follows:

"Unable to open the physical file "C:\Planet_Wrox\App_Data\PlanetWrox.mdf". Operating system error 5: "5(Access is denied.)".
An attempt to attach an auto-named database for file C:\Planet_Wrox\App_Data\PlanetWrox.mdf failed. A database with the same name exists, or specified file cannot be opened, or it is located on UNC share."

I suspect it has something to do with Administrator permissions or something along those lines, but I'm not sure how to clear this up.

Might also be the "connectionstring" DataSource address in the webconfig file.

Thanks for any help you might be able to give.

Hi there,

A couple of things to check / questions:

1. Which version of SQL Server are you targeting? Express, or Local DB? And are you using Visual Studio 2013?

2. What are the permissions for the folder C:\Planet_Wrox\App_Data\ on disk? You can open the Properties of the folder in Windows and then look under the Security tab.

3. When you log in to SQL Server using Management Studio, do you see your database attached there already?

Cheers,

Imar

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Hi Imar,

The only option I get is SQLExpress. I don't get the option the Local DB option. It's SQL Server 2012 which is the version the book says to download.

As for permissions in question #2, "SYSTEM" is listed along with myself (my login name for windows), and Administrator (I'm the only user of this laptop, so I assume I'm logging in as the Admin).

#3: I uninstalled and reinstalled SQL Server, so at present, no I don't see it there. On the previous installation, I created the database/tables as instructed in chapter 12 and had no problem with that.

Thank you.

Which version of Visual Studio are you using? LocalDB should be installed automatically with VS 2013.

That said, try running VS as an Administrator (right-click it on the Start Menu and choose Run as Administrator). Does that make a difference?

Imar

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Ooops, sorry. Misread that.

I'm using "Visual Studio Express for the Web 2013."

Get the same thing when I start it as Administrator.

Actually, now I don't see the database in the Server Explorer. I just see the connection string name (PlanetWroxConnectionString1). It has the red "X". I don't see LocalDB under "Servers" either.

A few things to check:

1. What happens when you double-click the MDF in the App_Data folder.

2. What do you have under Tools | Options | Database Tools | Data Connections | SQL Server Instance in Visual Studio?

3. When you use SQL Server Management Studio, what happens wen you try to connect to the server name (LocalDB)\v11.0 ?

Imar

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When I double-click on the database file in the Solution Explorer, I get a dialog box with the following content:

"Unable to open physical file "C:\Planet_Wrox\App_Data\PlanetWrox.mdf". Operating system Error 5: "5(Access is denied.)". An attempt to attach an auto-named database for file C:\Planet_Wrox\App_Data\PlanetWrox.mdf failed. A database with the same name exists, or specified file cannot be opened, or it is located on UNC share."

I click on the OK button to dismiss this dialog box and Server Explorer shows "PlanetWroxConnectionString1" under "Data Connections", and "laptop" under "Servers".

Question #2: (LocalDB)\v11.0 is in the box below "SQL Server Instance Name".

Question #3: When I open SQL Server Management Studio, a dialog box opens - "Connect to Server". In the "Server Name" dropdown it defaults to LAPTOP/SQLEXPRESS. When I click on the arrow to dropdown options, the only other item in the list is <browse for more...>. When I click on that a dialog box opens with two tabs, one labeled, "Local Servers" which has "Database Engine" with a + sign to the left of it. When I click on the + sign, only LAPTOP\SQLEXPRESS displays. The other tab is "Network Servers" and has "Database Engine" in it with a + sign to the left. When I click on the +, only LAPTOP displays.

I connect to LAPTOP\SQLEXPRESS and in the "Object Explorer" window, it says "LAPTOP\SQLEXPRESS(SQL Server 11.0.2100 - laptop\MyName)

For item 3, try entering the name I suggested in the Server name box manually

Does that give you access to Local DB?

Imar

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