Cannot connect to SQL Server express from SSMS

Question

I have installed SQL Server Management Studio 2005. I can't find my server name when I click browse for more but i know that my server name will be the same as the user name as in the picture below.

Solution 1

Use . or (local) or localhost for server name if you installed the server as default instance.

Use .\sqlexpress or localhost\sqlexpress if you have SQL Express.

The server name syntax is

Servername\InstanceName

If the instance is default you use just Servername.
For SQL Express, instance name is sqlexpress by default.

Solution 2

Please see:

• Solving Connectivity errors to SQL Server
• Troubleshoot connecting to the SQL Server Database Engine