Confliction between SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2005 Express Edition

Hi,

My objective is using a single DB file (mdf file) + SQL Server Express 2005 to run my program

I got two softwares here, Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005. Firstly, I installed Visual Studio 2005, normally the SQL Server 2005 Express Edition will be installed with this software. After finishing the installation. I opened a new project and try to open a DB file (.mdf) from Visual Studio 2005, it works. The problem is that I can't restore the mdf file from an old database file since it lose a lot of functions that appear in SQL Server 2000 / SQL Server 2005. And it is too troublesome and inconvenient to edit a DB file in Visual Stuio 2005.

Therefore, I have to install SQL Server 2005 for me to edit the mdf file, so that I can modify, backup, or even restore the mdf file with another DB file. After the installation of SQL Server 2005, I got a tool, SQL Server Managment Studio, to edit the mdf file. I can open the mdf file but when I double-clicked on the mdf file in Visual Studio 2005, it gives me the following error message:

Connections to SQL Server files (*.mdf) require SQL Server Express 2005 to function properly. Please verify the installation of the component or download from the URL:http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=49251

It seems the SQL Server 2005 modify some of the files in SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. Is that SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2005 Express Edition cannot be exist at the same time?

The issue is I'm working on my computer, but I dun want to install SQL Server 2005 in the server that I will transfer to. It will be much like using Access DB file, without the Microsoft Access software, the program can still work well. However, when I'm still in programming stage, I do hope to have a DB file as the source file for my program, but I can do some editing works with SQL Server 2005.

Does anyone can give me a suggestion? Thanks for your kindly reply.

Calvin

On my machine I have SQL2005 and SQL Express installed at the same time, and both of them work fine. I guess the problem lays in connection string of the database. You can check as following:

Go to database explorer-data connections.
Right click your mdf database and click "modify connection"...
Click the advanced button
Search for the "data source" string
Set the string to refer to your SQL Server2005 instance.

You can take a look at this link:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=124596&SiteId=1.

BTW, if you just want to operate on the database file more directly, you do not need to install SQL Server2005. You can intall "SQL Server Management Studio Express " from here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/sql/download/

.