Hi,
I just installed MSDE and did the following steps.
1) Set the setup.ini to the following options:

[Options]
INSTANCENAME=PDM_SQL
SAPWD=pdm_sql

TARGETDIR="C:\MSDE\Binn"
DATADIR="C:\MSDE\Data"

2) Then I started the resulting service MSQL$PDM_SQL

3) I was able to connect using: osql –E –S localhost\PDM_SQL

However, I am having problems connecting with ADO to the server.
Note: the server will always be local.

I use the following connect code:

oConnection = CreateObject("adodb.connection")
oConnection.Provider = "SQLOLEDB.1"
oConnection.ConnectionString = "data source=TJM/PDM_SQL;initial catalog=MASTER;integrated security=sspi"
**also tried: ConnectionString = "Data Source=(local);Initial Catalog=master;User ID=sa;Password=pdm_SQL"
           
oConnection.Open

When connecting I get the following error: SQL Server does not exist or access denied

I checked out http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=328306 but it didnt help.
I also tried to disable the XP firewall.

Does anyone have an suggestions of other things I could try?

BR
Tim