I have SQL Server 2005 Express Edition installed on my Windows 7 host machine, and I would like to be able to access that from a Windows XP Virtual PC.
This way, I can develop using Delphi 7 on XP alongside Visual Studio projects on Windows 7 which both use the same data.
EDIT: At this point I have only installed the Windows XP Virtual PC and Delphi 7 within it. I cannot ping the host machine and all the host drives are mounted using:
//tsclient/share/
So my question is – How do I see the host machine's SQL 2005 Server from a Windows XP Virtual PC?
Best Answer
Go to Start->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services and ensure that the SQL Server Browser service has been started and set to automatic.
Use the SQL Surface Configuration Manager->Services & Connections. Expand Database Engine, click Remote Connections and ensure Local & Remote connections selected and you have TCP/IP selected (you can use named pipes & tcp/ip)
Now to ensure is not a firewall issue, disable the firewall on your windows 7 host and now try to connect from your virtual XP machine (also disable the firewall within this VM environment as well).
Update: Ok, so you have enabled SQL Browser service, enabled TCP/IP sockets and can connect by IP address\SQLEXPRESS. Sorry for making you possibly feel stupid but you did try WIN7MACHINENAME\SQLEXPRESS yes? Can you make a share on the Win7 machine and try to access that share from xp via \\WIN7MACHINENAME\SHARENAME and tell us the error. You may also want to update your top comment to reflect what you have done to get things working till this point. Can you also try without using a RDP session but using the raw VM console?