In VS 2010, I'm trying to open the .mdf file supplied in chapter 12 by copying the file to App_Data and double clicking it (tried other ways also) and getting an error basically saying that opening this SQL database requires SQL Server 2005-8 Express to be installed and running on the local computer. When I recently upgraded VS 2005 to 2010 (full product) apparently it kept SQL Server 2005 and I want 2008 version. So I downloaded SQL Server 2008 R2 Express and installed it. I uninstalled 2005 version. The config mgr says it is up and running. I can use the Svr Mgt Studio to create a test DB.

I used Windows Explorer to insure that I have full permissions on the App_Data file created in the web site I created for this exercise. My normal userid on this computer (Win 7) is also an administrator for the PC.

If I try to open the .mdf file by connecting to a database in the VS Server Explorer sometimes I get an error 5 - access denied - but not always. Although, oddly, I have sometimes opened the DB this way and could see the tables - but I'm not able to move the DB to the App_Data folder.

I'm also not able to open the .mdf DB in the Svr Mgt Studio and the error is not clear to me. BTW, the "user instance" (in the advanced tab) was already set to false - something mentioned in other advice about this type of problem.

Obviously there is something about this that I don't have set up correctly.

Thanks for your help.

If you did it in this order, your new 2008 Rs instance will not be called .\SqlExpress as that name was already taken by the 2005 installation. The trick is to find out the instance name of your SQL Server which you can do by looking at the SQL Server Configuration Manager.

Also, make sure you're not attaching the database to SQL Server using Management Studio *and* try to access it thorugh the App_Data folder. Each option keeps a lock on the database which prevents the other from accessing the files. So, either use App_Data, or use a folder outside your web site's folder such as C:\Databases.

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!