How to Find Your SQL Server Instances (Server Name) and Versions
Why Stack Overflow recommends it
Stack Overflow users link it when someone can't work out what to type in the SQL Server 'Server Name' field or how to list installed instances and versions.
Recommended by 2 people across 2 different months, 2012 to 2016.
What it is
A short screen-recorded demo from the learningsqlserver channel showing how to check whether SQL Server is installed and find its instances (default and SQLEXPRESS) in SQL Server Configuration Manager. It then shows connecting in Management Studio using the instance name as the server name and running a query to get the version.
What people said
Recommends Nagaraj S · 2014-02 · Stack Overflow · on “Determine installed sql server instances?”
SELECT @@VERSION from command line SQLCMD -L or use SQl Server Configuration Manager use the SQL Server Configuration Manager tool that installs with both SQL Server 2005 and 2008. On the start menu, expand the Microsoft SQL Server [YOURVERSION] menu, and then expand the Configuration Tools submenu. Launch the SQL Server Configuration Manager tool Find your Installed SQL Server Versions and Instances [LINK] Identify a SQL Server Express Instance [LINK] How to Find Your SQL Server Instances (Server Name) [this video] How to identify and enable disabled SQL Server instances in SQL Server 2000 [LINK] How can I determine installed SQL Server instances and their versions [LINK]
Recommends gbartusk · 2016-01 · Stack Overflow · on “How to connect to local instance of SQL Server 2008 Express”
For me, I was only able to get it to work by using "." in the server name field; was banging away for awhile trying different combos of the user name and server name. Note that during install of the server (ie this file: SQLEXPR_x64_ENU.exe) i checked default instance which defaults the name to MSSQLSERVER; the above high voted answers might be best used for separate named (ie when you need more than 1) server instances. both of these videos helped me out: use dot for server name: [this video] general setup: [LINK]
Cites Rahul Tripathi · 2012-10 · Stack Overflow · on “How to find server name when installing SQL Server 2008 R2”
You can use .\SQLEXPRESS as the server name. Check this link [this video] EDIT:- From the comments below posted by the user(thought that it is useful) You can install SQL Server as an instance, which allows you to run multiple environments on the same machine (ie. localhost\dev and localhost\prod). If you install MSSQL Server Express, it defaults the instance name to localhost\SQLEXPRESS