MySQL running, can access w/ phpmyadmin, but not others

[Cygnwulf]

I an relatively new to setting up a SQL server, so I'm sure this question has been asked before in some version, but it seems my google-fu is weak as well.

I installed XAMPP on my windows vista computer, and haven't changed much of the settings. I added an extra user for my php program I'm writing to use for insert and query functions, but otherwise left other users alone. I can see the table and have manually inserted test records with PHPMyAdmin without any hitches, however when I try to run a query from queryexpress, I can't even log in to localhost.

I tried both as root and as the new user I set up, neither can access the server. I get an error message "Unable to Connect: SQL Server does not exist or access denied. I get this no matter if I try to connect by the host name, using localhost, or using 127.0.0.1

When I try from another computer on the same network, I Get the error message ""unable to connect: A Network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (Provider: Named Pipes Provider, error:40 - could not open a connection to SQL Server)

I'm still mostly noobish here. Let me know what other information you might need to help me with this, please

[JonB]

Umm - are we talking MySQL or Microsoft SQL Server?

or is this a mixed metaphor?

XAMPP comes with MySQL as the default database server. Most tools designed for SQL Server (a term that covers more than one generation of Microsoft SQL Server) won't work with MySQL.

I suspect that is the source of your issues. Oracle has a free modeling and management tool for MySQL: MySQL Workbench.

http://www.mysql.com/products/workbench/