SQL Server “.” Alias Not Working

Question

I\'ve added an alias of \".\" which should point to my local (named) instance, \".\\SQL2008\". But when I try to connect to \".\", it times out.

Am I missing something o

Answer 1

There is no limitation preventing that alias name. At leas it works on my machine ;)

However, when setting up the alias make sure you create it in the 32 as well as the 64 bit area:

I did also spell out localhost instead of just using the .:

Also, a SQL Server Alias always uses TCP/IP as connection protocol, which is not enabled by default. Under SQL Server Network Configuration (see above screen shot) check that TCP/IP is enabled for your instance.