We have individual developer edition SQL Server 2012 databases set up on each of our developers PC's. All PC's are Windows 7, firewall is disabled and everything runs fine.
We're now looking to upgrade to Windows 8.1. We have had some problems with the firewall but have put in exceptions for port 1433 and 1434. We can connect using SQL or Windows authentication when using sqlcmd and osql, however if we try to connect via SSMS we get an error:
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)(Microsoft SQL Server)
What's confusing me is that we can connect without any problems using osql and sqlcmd. SSMS has no problems when running locally on the computer.
TCP looks to be setup correctly and listening for connections (and accepting connections from osql and sqlcmd).
What else do SSMS need to connect to SQL Server?
Best Answer
Can't explain why, but the firewall seems to be a problem on this computer. Turning the firewall off completely blocked all access (can't even ping or connect to network shares using UNC). We enabled the firewall and removed all of the blocking rules and it now works.