Lets try this;
- Open Server Explorer
- Right click on Data Connections
- Click add connection
- In step 1 "select or enter a server name" box, type in IP address (or name should work if its networked) of location where MSDE resides. Since you are networked you may be able to select your server from the drop down list.
- In step 2 click Used Windows Integrated Security
- Step 3 type the name of the database youre trying to access or pick from the drop down list if it allows you to
- Click test connection to make sure the connectoin works
If you get some error it might be because 1) You specified the wrong server or 2) Your windows login does not have access to MSDE
I cant help you with 1), but for 2) you can go through the OSQL utility to add MSDE access for windows users. Youll also need to do this for individual databases and set the users as dbo role so they can actually access and change the info on it.
For basic information on OSQL and how to add users etc.. go to
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q325003
Heres a copy/paste of the section youre most likely to be interested in;
"A user cannot connect to SQL Server without providing a valid login id. The sp_grantlogin stored procedure is used to authorize a Microsoft Windows network account (either a group or a user account) for use as a SQL Server login for connecting to an instance of SQL Server by using Windows Authentication. The following example permits a Windows NT user named Corporate\Test to connect to a SQL Server instance:
EXEC sp_grantlogin Corporate\Test
Only members of the sysadmin or the securityadmin fixed server roles can run the sp_grantlogin stored procedure. For more information about roles, see the "Roles, SQL Server Architecture" topic in SQL Server Books Online.
For more information about the sp_grantlogin stored procedure, see the "sp_grantlogin, Transact-SQL Reference" topic in SQL Server Books Online. "
"After a users connects to an instance of SQL Server, they cannot perform activities in a database until the dbo grants them access to the database. You can use the sp_grantdbaccess stored procedure to add a security account for a new user to the current database. The following example adds an account for a Microsoft Windows NT user named Corporate\BobJ to the current database and names it "Bob":
EXEC sp_grantdbaccess Corporate\BobJ, Bob
The sp_adduser stored procedure performs the same function as the sp_grantdbaccess stored procedure. Because, the sp_adduser stored procedure is included for backward compatibility, Microsoft recommends that you use the sp_grantdbacess stored procedure.
Only members of the sysadmin fixed server role, the db_accessadmin and the db_owner fixed database roles can run the sp_grantdbaccess stored procedure. For more information about the sp_grantdbaccess stored procedure, see the "sp_grantdbaccess, Transact-SQL Reference" topic in SQL Server Books Online. "
Post back here if you continue to have problems and well see if we cant figure it out.
EDIT:
I forgot to mention.. use the Sql classes (rather then OleDb) when using MSDE, that way when its time to migrate to SQL Server your program will be 100% compatible with it and you wont have to change a single line of code. Not to mention the Sql classes are far more efficient and faster then OleDb ones as they were built specifically for SQL Server and MSDE.
