Okay so a lot of people have posted a similar question, however I don't seem to be able to find a solution to my problem in any of them. So this is my situation.
Yesterday I was working with my SQL Server Express through SQL Server Management Studio. I close my projects as I've done multiple times before and then this morning when I tried to connect again with the tool is gives me this error:
TITLE: Connect to Server
Cannot connect to .\SQLExpress.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server.
The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: -1)
I think my main question here is if there is a solution to this problem, or if I have to install SQL Server Express all over again?
PS: Here are some system stats. I'm working on a Windows 10 machine, and the SQL Server Management Studio version is 2014.
Open SQL Server Configuration Manager
Click on SQL Server Network Configuration and click on Protocols for Name
Right click on TCP/IP (make sure it is Enabled), click on Properties
Select IP Addresses Tab and go to the last entry: IP All
Enter TCP Port 1433.
Now restart "SQL Server .Name." using services.msc (winKey + r)