I see absolutely nothing of what you are saying. When I looked at SQL Server 2005 Computer Manager, I saw the SQL Server and right-clicked on it to see that it has a start name and is already started; it is called localSystem, but when I go in to set up an ODBC connection, it does not appear as one of the choices.

>When you installed SQL Server Express you get SQL Server manager. From there you can start a service.
ODBC you can set when you choose SQL Native Client or SQL Server. I see my instance of SQL Server 2005 as localhost.