using SQL Server 2008 R2 Developers Edition with VS 2010

Question

Hi -

I'm trying to add an Existing Item (SQL Server file with .mdf file extension) to a Visual Studio project but the following error message appears:

When OK is clicked this message disappears but the "Data Source Configuration Wizard" does not appear.  However, the .mdf file does show up in the Solution Explorer under the project folder to which it was added.  Is there a way to tell VS to use SQL Server 2008 R2 instead of Express and if so, how it this done?

This machine is running Windows 7.  Not sure if it matters but SQL Server was installed before VS on this particular machine.

Answer 1

Hi Knot,

It seems the error was because your Existing Item was created by Sql Server Express.

If so, maybe the following links will help you:

http://forums.asp.net/t/1653265.aspx/1

http://forums.asp.net/t/1606632.aspx/1

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqldatabaseengine/thread/f0005162-9abe-4956-be34-d79ddfe09ea9/

Regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 2

Indeed, the problem was due to SQL Server Express not being installed.  Once it was installed, the services to Developer were stopped, the services to Express were restarted, SQLEXPRESS was entered into Visual Studio as the SQL Server Instance Name, then it worked!  Thanks for the help.