Could not connect to the database Network error IOException: Connection refused: connect

Question

I am running a SQL Server Express 10.50.4000.0 on my machine. I have enabled on the TCP/IP and made sure the port is set to 1433. I have added an exception in my firewall for 1433. The server service is running. I have tried localhost and the computer name and both give the same error. When i try localhost\SQLEXPRESS or [USER-PC]\SQLEXPRESS I received an error saying it could not find the database.

String driverName = "net.sourceforge.jtds.jdbc.Driver";
Class.forName(driverName);

String serverName = "localhost";
String instanceName = "ALLEN-PC\\SQLEXPRESS";
String serverPort = "1433";
String database  = serverName +":" + serverPort+"/"+instanceName;
String url = "jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://" + database;
String username = "sa";
String password = "password";

connection = DriverManager.getConnection(url, username, password);

I receive the error:

Could not connect to the database Network error IOException: Connection refused: connect

with no additional context to investigate.

Answer 1

1. Make Sure that your SQL Server Browser service is active.
2. Goto AllProgram->SQL Server ->configuraton tools->SQL Server Configuration Manager->SQL Server Network Configuration-> Select your server instance and right click on TCP/IP then goto IPAddresses. Change/Place port number for all IP's as 1433. Also make sure that the IP Address is Active and Enabled. Save it and restart the server.