Today, as I was having a module called Web Database Development module (WDD in short) in school, one of my best friends encountered a problem in login on to the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express 2008 as her computer (Windows Vista in 64 bit) does not allowed her to install Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express 2005 (ended up in an error code). So I helped her to install Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express 2008. The installation went fine except that I could not login to the Studio Express 2008 with such login credential as Windows Authentication as follows: localhost\SQLEXPRESS. It prompted an error on the network instance. To my surprise, there was no SQL Server Surface Area Configuration in Microsoft SQL Server 2008. The problem was about the TCP/IP named pipes. So I decided to install Microsft SQL Server 2005 for her as well since Microsoft SQL Server 2005 has the SQL Server 2005 Surface Area Configuration. I myself, am using Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express 2008 with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 installed on my laptop.
After installation, went to the Start Menu and go to All Programs, and look for a folder called Microsoft SQL Server 2005, expand the folder, and you will see SQL Server 2005 Surface Area Configuration. Upon clicking the Surface Area Configuration component, a Window pops up, click Surface Area Configuration for Services and Connections under Configure Surface Area for localhost.
Select Local and remote connections, Using both TCP/IP and named pipes
Click Ok, and restart the services, and you are done with the configuration.
Also posted in here: http://cannieitarena.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/solution-unable-to-login-to-microsoft-sql-server-management-studio-express-2008/
Nice, if i got such problem again i can refer to this at least.