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Can't get started with SQL Express

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Category: Web Wiz Web App Support Forums
Forum Name: Web Wiz Forums
Forum Description: Support forum for Web Wiz Forums application.
URL: https://forums.webwiz.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=29574
Printed Date: 01 April 2026 at 4:40am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.08 - https://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Can't get started with SQL Express

Posted By: Fuzzy
Subject: Can't get started with SQL Express
Date Posted: 27 July 2011 at 9:42pm

ok, we've been using Web Wiz Forums for eons. (ok, since 2003)

We started on Access, and never moved off it. I made an attempt a while back, and failed.

OK, so we're moving the company's web site to Amazon EC2... good chance to finally upgrade.

I've got a Windows Server DataCenter 2008 SP2 (32 bit) up and running. IIS 7.0.

I've enabled SQL Express. created an SA password, enabled login

first task: just do a clean install of 10.01 on my new EC2 system and create a clean (new) forum and get that working with SQL Express.

Install Web Wiz (10.01).

create a new database in SQL Express called WebWiz

set the /database folder security (for both Users and IIS_IUSRS) to allow modify.

go to http://127.0.0.1/forum/ and get the installation wizard

pick "new installation"

pick SQL Server 2005/2008.

server = .\SQLEXPRESS

db name = WebWiz

sa / password

Test DB connection = Successful

Click Next >>

... no error... bounces me back to forum/setup.asp -- select installation type.

I've tried both 9.74 and get the same behavior.

Help!

Replies:

Posted By: WebWiz-Bruce
Date Posted: 28 July 2011 at 8:09am

You should not give the IIS_IUSRS group permission on the SQL Server as this could leave you open to being hacked.

Instead you need to install SQL Server in mixed mode to allow TCP/IP connections to the SQL Server and then create a user in SQL Server giving that used DBO (Database Owner) rights on the database.

Also is there any reason why you choose Windows Server DataCenter 2008 SP2 (32 bit)? I personally would have gone for 2008 R2 which is 64 bit only as it is much better with what you are running on the server.

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https://www.webwiz.net/web-hosting/windows-web-hosting.htm" rel="nofollow - ASP.NET Web Hosting

Posted By: Fuzzy
Date Posted: 28 July 2011 at 12:24pm

A couple of questions then...

why does the "test connection" work if I have an SQL connection problem?

why isn't there an error message?

why don't you write this stuff down somewhere? I spent hours on this yesterday.

on EC2, 32 bit is cheaper. and we don't run a big enough site to need 64 bits.

Posted By: WebWiz-Bruce
Date Posted: 28 July 2011 at 1:00pm

You may be able to connect to the database but it does not mean that you have the correct rights to create tables or other database schema.

How you setup SQL Server is beyond the scope of our support. There are lots of books and dedicated websites available on SQL server and how to set it up, many of which are 1,000's of pages long and so would not be possible to cover ourselves.

The other thing you may want to check is that you have read, write, and modify permissions enabled on the forums database directory, so that the install wizard can write to this folder. I suspect that you may have missed out this part of the install instructions at part 6 below:-

http://www.webwiz.net/web-wiz-forums/kb/sql-server-install.htm" rel="nofollow - http://www.webwiz.net/web-wiz-forums/kb/sql-server-install.htm

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https://www.webwiz.net/web-hosting/windows-web-hosting.htm" rel="nofollow - ASP.NET Web Hosting

Posted By: Fuzzy
Date Posted: 28 July 2011 at 3:56pm

OK... I was using Internet Explorer on the Server (using Remote Desktop to connect), connecting via http://localhost/forum/.

on a whim, I thought... maybe I'll get a better error message if I connect to the forum remotely.

so, I went to Google Chrome on my laptop, typed in the http://<real ip address>/forum, went through the configuration steps, and when I clicked "Next", I got:

Congratulations, Web Wiz Forums Database setup is now complete

I didn't change a thing on the server.

so... who knows? at least now I can make progress. hopefully this thread saves someone else some pain.

thanks Bruce.