SQL Server does not exist or access denied

Every day, more enterprises resort to the internet to provide their clients with access to their SQL Server 2000 databases, or to gain access to databases hosted at remote locations. This makes SQL Server 2000 increasingly prone to security attacks. As a result, Microsoft is constantly adding security features to prevent attacks and secure the popular database server. These features make connecting to SQL Server 2000 increasingly difficult to troubleshoot. One of the more common error messages users get is “SQL Server does not exist or access denied” or “Specified SQL Server not found”.

Follow these steps to help you determine the reason you cannot connect to SQL Server 2000:

1. Verify that SQL Server or MSDE is installed and running (see SQL Server Installation Verification for details).
2. If you are connecting remotely (to a server on a different machine), make sure your connection is not blocked by any firewalls on either machines including Windows built-in Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) and Windows Firewall. Contact your system administrator for firewall configuration.
3. If you are referencing an instance of SQL Server 2000 or MSDE 2000 other than the default instance, use the convention <server_name>\<instance_name> (example ProdServ\Sales).
4. Make sure you don’t have an older ADO version.
5. Make sure your client protocols are configured properly.
6. If you are connecting to a remote server and the server name is not resolved with DNS, use the IP address itself instead of the server name.
7. Make sure that Windows XP SP2 is not blocking your connection.