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This article is to help you if you are having problems connecting to the inFlow database.

Typically, you are likely to receive one of the two common errors received when setting up a connection to the inFlow server in the Server Connection screen.

If you are getting an error saying that the database password is incorrect:

Verify that the database password is correct

Ensure that you have correctly typed in the Database Password (required for any access to inFlow). This is a different password from the Web Account Password (used for managing your inFlow licenses) and the inFlow User Passwords (used for individuals within your organization to log in to inFlow).

Be careful about entering uppercase and lowercase letters correctly.

Verify that the server name is correct

Make sure that you are trying to connect to the right server. If you are on the server computer itself, you can use just a single dot to indicate this. You can also try using localhost, 127.0.0.1, or your computer's hostname or LAN IP address.

Otherwise, if you are connecting from another computer, you will need to enter the hostname or IP address of the correct server computer. The easiest way to get this information is to log into inFlow from the server computer, and select File, Connection, Change Connection, and look up the Server Name info under Current Connection Info. There, in brackets, it will first show the hostname and then the IP address.

You can also find the hostname as follows:

1. Go onto the server computer. On Windows XP, click Start, Run, and then type cmd. On Vista, click Start, type and select cmd.
2. In the command window, type hostname and press enter. The hostname will be displayed.

Look up the password in the server computer's registry

1. Go onto the server computer. On Windows XP, click Start, Run, and then type regedit. On Vista, click Start, type and select regedit.
2. Browse to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\inFlow Inventory
3. Look up the password in the value of SQLPwd. (Note that if you have previously changed the database password, this may be inaccurate.) Go back to inFlow, and try again with the new password.

Change the password on the server computer

1. Go onto the server computer. Open a command prompt as an administrator. On Windows XP, from an administrator account, click Start, Run, and then type cmd. On Vista, click Start, type cmd, then right click cmd.exe and select Run as administrator.
2. Type the following line into the command prompt:

sqlcmd –S .\INFLOWSQL

3. At the 1> prompt, type the following and press enter, using your own password:

ALTER LOGIN SA WITH PASSWORD = ‘<password>'

4. At the 2> prompt, type the following and press enter:

GO

5. Your database password has now been changed. Press Ctrl-C to exit.
6. Go back to inFlow, and try again with the new password.

If you are getting an error that you cannot connect to the inFlow database:

Verify that the server name is correct

Make sure that you are trying to connect to the right server. If you are on the server computer itself, you can use just a single dot to indicate this. You can also try using localhost, 127.0.0.1, or your computer's hostname or LAN IP address.

Otherwise, if you are connecting from another computer, you will need to enter the hostname or IP address of the correct server computer. The easiest way to get this information is to log into inFlow from the server computer, and select File, Connection, Change Connection, and look up the Server Name info under Current Connection Info. There, in brackets, it will first show the hostname and then the IP address.

Ensure that SQL Server is set to allow remote connections and the services are configured properly.

1. Run SQL Server Configuration Manager. On Windows XP, click Start, Run, and type sqlservermanager.msc. On Vista, click Start and type sqlservermanager.msc.
2. Open up SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration, Protocols for INFLOWSQL. Ensure that Named Pipes and TCP/IP are enabled.
3. Open up SQL Server 2005 Services. Right click SQL Server (INFLOWSQL) and select Restart.
4. Ensure that the SQL Server Browser service is listed and is Running. If not, right click it and select Start.
5. Ensure that both the SQL Server (INFLOWSQL) and SQL Server Browser services are set to start mode Automatic. If not, right click, select Properties, and under the Service tab, set Start Mode to Automatic.

Set your server computer firewall to allow incoming connections to SQL Server (INFLOWSQL) and SQL Server Browser from other computers.

The instructions below are for Windows Firewall. If you are using another program as a firewall, you will need to adapt these instructions.

1. On Windows XP, click Start, Settings, Control Panel, then select Windows Firewall. Click the Exceptions tab. On Windows Vista, click Start, then type and select Windows Firewall. Then click Allow a program through Windows Firewall.
2. Run SQL Server Configuration Manager. On Windows XP, click Start, Run, and type sqlservermanager.msc. On Vista, click Start and type sqlservermanager.msc.
3. In SQL Server Configuration Manager, under SQL Server 2005 Services, right click SQL Server (INFLOWSQL) and select Properties. In the Service tab, look at the value under Binary Path, not including the part at the end: -sINFLOWSQL.
4. From Windows Firewall, click Add Program, Browse, and select the program you found in step 3.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4, except select the service SQL Server Browser this time.

Set your firewall to allow outgoing connections from inFlow.

If you're using Windows Firewall (the default firewall that comes with Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista) or no firewall program, you shouldn't need to do anything. If you're using some other program as a firewall, you may need to set it to enable outgoing connections from inFlow on each computer with inFlow installed.

Temporarily turn your firewall off

You can temporarily turn off your firewall to help find out what's wrong when you can't connect with inFlow. The instructions below are for Windows Firewall. If you are using another program as a firewall, you will need to adapt these instructions.

1. On Windows XP, click Start, Settings, Control Panel, then select Windows Firewall. On Windows Vista, click Start, then type and select Windows Firewall.
2. Select off (or back on) and then click OK.