Live Examples Error: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server.

[WEBSRFR]

When I try to run the grid example locally on the "Live Examples - Telerik UI for ASP.NET AJAX R1 2017 SP1" page, I receive the following error message. How can I fix this error? I'm running Microsoft SQL Server 2016 on the same computer and selected the option to install the Telerik Sample Database when installing Telerik UI for ASP.NET AJAX.

Is this error because it can't connect to the SQL Server database on my computer or because it can connect to SQL Server but can't open the actual database it needs? How can I manually make sure the SQL database(s) needed for the example applications running locally are setup properly and accessible by the applications?

 

 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 that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified) Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: 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 that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified)

[Rumen]

Hi,

You can find a list of connection strings for SQL 2016 at https://www.connectionstrings.com/sql-server-2016/. 

Additional reasons for the error are available at

http://support.sysonline.com/support/solutions/articles/4000016491-errmsg-a-network-related-or-instance-specific-error-occurred-while-establishing-a-connection-to-sql

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18060667/why-am-i-getting-cannot-connect-to-server-a-network-related-or-instance-speci

Best regards,

Rumen
Telerik by Progress

[Allen]

It is not exactly a connection strings issue.  The web.config file needs to be hacked to have the right local database in it.  It refers to SQLEXPRESS by default which I am not running.  I was never asked for the target SQL Server instance during the installation which would have provided the information necessary to resolve this during install.

[Marin Bratanov]

Hello Allen,

Most of our customers still have an SQLEXPRESS instance and it still comes with default installations. Considering that we have been shipping our demos like this for about a decade, changing that would be perceived as a breaking change.

A step or dialog for optional configurations in the demos installer could be a nice feature and I can suggest you add your idea of how this should work in our feedback portal, so the community can vote on it, which will help determine its priority: https://feedback.telerik.com/Project/108/Feedback/List/Feature%20Request.

Regards,
Marin Bratanov
Progress Telerik