SQL Server Error: No process is on the other end of the pipe

When you log on to SQL Server 2005, you may encounter an error: 'No process is on the other end of the pipe '. Solution:

(1) Open up SQL Server suraface area Configuration tool by clicking

Start > Microsoft SQL Server 2005 > Configuration tools > SQL Server suraface area Configuration
(2) Click Surface area configuration for services and connections Link at the bottom of the window.
(3) In View by instance Pane on the left, expand the node for the SQL server that is giving you the error, and
Click Database Engine > Service > Remote connections .
(4) In the setting for Remote connections , Click Local and remote connections Option.
Now click Using both TCP/IP and Named Pipes Option and click OK .
You will be prompted to restart your database server for the changes to take effect. Do that.
Once you restart your database server, you should be able to log in to the SQL Server database successfully!

No process is on the other end of the pipe

Error message:

Named Pipes provider: No process is on the other end of the pipe.

Microsoft SQL native client: communication link failure.

Microsoft SQL native client: an error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server. when connecting to SQL Server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL server does not allow remote connections.

Typical causes and solutions:

Cause	Resolution
The client is attempting to connect using named pipes, and the server is not configured to allow remote connections using named pipes.	Connect using TCP/IP, or use the surface area Configuration tool to enable remote connections using named pipes.
The client Protocol order is attempting to connect with the Named Pipes protocol before trying the TCP protocol, and named pipes are not enabled on the server.	Using SQL Server Configuration Manager on the client computer, move TCP before named pipes in the Protocol order list.

from: http://theshiva.us/technicalblog/archive/2006/12/20/solution-fix-no-process-is-on-the-other-end-of-the-pipe-error-sql-server-2005.aspx
from: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175496.aspx