October 14, 2010 in Blog by Amer

Failed to Connect to the Local Windows Database Engine while Running SharePoint Configuration Wizard

I had a problem while running the SharePoint Configuration Wizard after installing WSS 3.0 SP2 that says:

Failed to connect to the configuration database.
An exception of type System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException was thrown.  Additional exception information: Access to module dbo.proc_getObjectsByClass is blocked because the signature is not valid.
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Access to module dbo.proc_getObjectsByClass is blocked because the signature is not valid.
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection)
.......

As it looks clear from the error, the wizard simply fails to connect to the database. (The database was installed as Express edition on the local machine and the OS was Windows Server 2008 R2.) After lots of tries to uninstall WSS 3.0 and reinstall it again and again… I have done the following:

1. Un-installed Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition (from Programs and Features)
2. Downloaded Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Edition (http://www.microsoft.com/express/database/) and then installed it
3. Installed WSS 3.0 SP2 as farm installation
4. After the installation has finished, I got the SharePoint Configuration Wizard where I was able to choose the local database that I have just installed..

The wizard then ran just fine. Hope it will with you as well