title: sql server 2008 error: 26 - error locating server/instance specified
body: <p>This is Arun from Chennai. I have developed my first application in WPF (C#) with VS 2008 &amp; SQL Server 2008. It works fine on my system. After deployment, it won't work on other systems. </p>
  
  <p>It shows the following error message.</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>system.data.sqlclient.sqlexception - a network related or instance specific error occurred while establishing a connection to sql server. the server was not found or was not accessible. verify instance name is correct and sql server is configured to allow remote connections.(provider: sql network interfaces, error: 26 - error locating server/instance specified).</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I have gone through google and done the following steps but no use. </p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Server Name : <code>ECARE432\SQLEXPRESS</code>   </li>
  <li>Instance Name : <code>SQLEXPRESS</code></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p><code>app.config</code> has:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;connectionStrings&gt;
     &lt;add name="TimeTracker.Properties.Settings.myecareConnectionString"
          connectionString="Data Source=ECARE432\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=myecare;Persist Security Info=True;User ID=sa;Password=ecare123@" 
          providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/&gt;
  &lt;/connectionStrings&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>Visual Studio --> Tools --> Options --> Database Tools --> Data Connections --> Changed "SQL Server Instance Name" from <code>sqlexpress</code> to blank.</p></li>
  <li><p>Configuration Tools -> SQL Server Configuration Manager -> SQL Native Client Configuration Aliases -> Alias Name -> <code>ECARE432\SQLEXPRESS,1433</code>, Port Number -> 1433, Protocol -> TCP/IP, Server Name -> ECARE432\SQLEXPRESS</p></li>
  <li><p>SQL Server Browser is running in my system.</p></li>
  <li><p>Server Name is correct. No typo mismatch.</p></li>
  <li><p>Client machine is able to ping my machine. </p></li>
  <li><p>TCP 1433 and UDP 1434 Exception added to Firewall. Also Turned off the Firewall in both my system and the client system.</p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Please guide me how to fix this issue.</p>