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I had connection problems and was unable to connect to a MSSQL SQLEXPRESS server from another machine.
It took me some minutes until i figured it out:
MSSQL can use dynamic ports to listen on, but those cause problems with the firewall (at least on Vista).
I got this fixed by turning off the dynamic ports and making sure the standard port 1433 is used.
To do this I had to go to the 'SQL Server Configuration Manager' -> SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration
-> Protocols for SQLEXPRESS and double click on TCP/IP.
Under the 'IP Addresses' tab I needed to turn the dynamic ports off by making the entries blank, and to
use 1433 as TCP port; don't forget the IPAll entry at the bottom of the list.
Maybe someone else can save a few minutes / grey hair now.
It took me some minutes until i figured it out:
MSSQL can use dynamic ports to listen on, but those cause problems with the firewall (at least on Vista).
I got this fixed by turning off the dynamic ports and making sure the standard port 1433 is used.
To do this I had to go to the 'SQL Server Configuration Manager' -> SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration
-> Protocols for SQLEXPRESS and double click on TCP/IP.
Under the 'IP Addresses' tab I needed to turn the dynamic ports off by making the entries blank, and to
use 1433 as TCP port; don't forget the IPAll entry at the bottom of the list.
Maybe someone else can save a few minutes / grey hair now.