Big problem. I have nearly given up. I am trying to port my prototype to use MS SQL so it will work on a server once i get it (the server will be SQL Server 2008, shared, i dont know any more info).

So i tried to connect to SQL Server via visual studios IDE and had no luck. I enabled TCP and named pipes and restarted the service (and computer) with still no luck.

I remembered about mdf files so i made that after an obstacle of not being able to make the connect string require i figure out visual studio has it in its properties and successfully connected with that.

Then i had a problem with nested transactions. After not being able to figure out how to check i wondered if i can configure it to allow it somehow. I always thought all of MS were the same except for limitations but sql server seems to support nested transactions so theres no point trying to work around the problem with .mdf files since i wont need them and really just used it to port the base of my sql code and to check if syntax is correct.

I tried installing SQL Server Management Studio since people mentioned it several times (as a solution or at least help). When installing it on windows 7 it says it may not be compatible. After running it, it launched SQL Server Installation Center (64-bit) which doesnt seem to be the same thing as i dont see a way to modify any of my server (networking) configurations or edit user permissions, etc.

I am clueless what to do next. Does anyone have any ideas? I'm posting here bc i think my problem is more configurations and sql server then programming.