So firstly, I just wana make sure if I can use Xampp to connect to MS SQL? Or do I need any additional software?
If I can... Can you please tell me what I'm doing wrong? I don't really know much about databases...
I open MS SQL Server, and select "Windows Authentication" and type in "localhost" in servername, and then click "connect".
I've also tried selecting "SQL Server Authentication" (really don't know the difference), and typed in localhost as servername, "root" as username, and left the password blank, but still no luck.
With both ways I get a "Cannot connect to localhost" message.
I also did a search, and landed here: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/faq-xampp-windows.html#phpmssql
And did the following:
If the mssql extension was loaded in the php.ini, sometimes it comes to access problems when only TCP/IP is used. You can fix that problem with a newer "ntwdblib.dll" from Microsoft. Please replace the older file in "\xampp\apache\bin" and "\xampp\php" with the new one. Because of the license, we can't package a newer version of this file with XAMPP.
I had no ntwdblib.dll file in any of the two locations mentioned, but I downloaded a new one and placed it there... still no luck.
Any help? Thanks a bunch!