title: Unable to connect to SQL Server instance remotely
body: <p>I’m trying to access the SQL Server instance on my VPS from SQL Server Management Studio on my local machine. It’s not working (the error I’m getting is:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while
    establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or
    was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that
    SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I think this is because I need to configure the database engine to allow remote connections (correct me if I’m wrong!). So I’ve found this step-by-step guide to help me do that: <a href="http://www.linglom.com/2009/03/28/enable-remote-connection-on-sql-server-2008-express/" rel="noreferrer">http://www.linglom.com/2009/03/28/enable-remote-connection-on-sql-server-2008-express/</a> I’ve got to point 10 in the guide and I am now stuck! I don’t have SQL Server Management Studio installed on my VPS. Anyway, this has left me with two options:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Install SSMS</li>
  <li>Find another way to do point 10 onwards in the guide without having SSMS installed</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>I tried installing SSMS on my VPS using the Web Platform Installer but it keeps failing. I don’t know why it’s failing because it doesn’t seem to give a reason why. Does anyone know how I could allow remote connections a different way?</p>
  
  <p>The version of SQL Server installed on my VPS is SQL Server 2008 R2 Express.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Update</strong>:</p>
  
  <p>I have tried to disable the firewall on both my laptop and VPS to see if it is a firewall issue. This made no difference to the error message.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Another Update:</strong></p>
  
  <p>Having now been able to install SSMS (I installed directly from the website rather than using the WPI), I have been able to check that the server is configured to allow remote connections (I went to SSMS, connected to the SQL Server instance, right-clicked on the connection, clicked Properties, went to the Connections tab. "Allow remote connections to this server" is already ticked).</p>
  
  <p><strong>SOLUTION</strong></p>
  
  <p>Thanks to everyone for helping me get to this solution! I've finally managed to get it to work! I followed Filip De Vos's advice and opened the ports in the Firewall on my VPS and then I received a different error message. This led me to investigate further and I found that I was using the wrong credentials to login! So I've set a password for the sa user and I've managed to login using that! Thanks again!</p>