>When developing on my Win2K machine at work, I can use the "(localhost)" identifier in the SQL Server connection string in Web.config for connecting which works well and is handy for all local development.
>
>However, this does not work on my Win XP Pro machine at home. It seems to require the actual machine name for connecting. Is this correct or is there a "localhost" designator that works on Win XP?
>
>Thanks,

Bill

Hi and Merry Christmas to you and your's.

This is just a guess, but I've found that if the machine name isn't properly indicated, then all bets are off.

For example, I had (on my old box) a local addition of SQL server. For various reasons, it got re-named from (local) to 99999-SHAW/GEORGE (don't ask).

Perhaps that's the problem.