Can't get BCM running on server

[Guest]

Here's the setup:

* Our office computers run Win XP Home loaded with Office Small Business
Edition with Business Contact Manager installed and configured.

* We have a computer we use as a 'server' on the local office LAN, which
runs Win XP Pro, but doesn't have Office installed.

* We want to put a shared BCM database on the server, and share it.

I attempted to create a BCM database from my office computer directly onto
the server. No dice - you can only create databases on the local computer.

So I created the database on my local machine. Then I tried to share it. No
dice - you can only share databases if you are running Win XP Pro. (No
documentation of this until you try it as far as I can tell.)

I copied the BCM data files (one .ldf and one .mdf) to a shared directory on
the server. We can see the files, but can't connect to then from Outlook from
our individual computers.

I read through posts on the bboard, and they said we needed to install SQL
on the server. I located Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition. It required
..net 2.0.

I downloaded and installed .net 2.0. I downloaded and installed SQL Server
Express Edition. I downloaded and installed SQL Server Management Studio
Express, which it recommended.

I turned off all firewall(s). I made sure that all the SQL services were
running automatically and rebooted, and verified that they are running.

When I run SQL Server Management Studio, I see no way to connect to the BCM
database. If I try to "open" either of the BCM database files, Management
Studio has no idea what I am talking about.

When I try to access the BCM database remotely from Outlook (i.e. across the
network), I get some sort of generic 'error' attempting to connect to the
server machine ('remote account may not be enabled, database owner may not
have shared database, etc.')

Is there any way to make this work without buying an unwanted copy of Office
Small Business Edition, loading it on the server for the sole purpose of
creating and sharing a BCM database?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

 

[Guy]

Have you tried install Outlook with BCM on the Server and initializing the
database from there and sharing it? This should then be accessible from the
Clients.

 

[Guest]

Guy -

Thanks for the response, but (a) As far as I know, the only version of
Outlook that includes the BCM is the one that comes with Office 2003 Small
Business Edition (or higher), and (b) The whole point of my post was that I
want to host the database on my 'server' but have no need for Outlook and/or
Office on it. To quote from my original message:

" Is there any way to make this work without buying an unwanted copy of Office
Small Business Edition, loading it on the server for the sole purpose of
creating and sharing a BCM database?"

 

[Luther]

You can do it manually, but Guy's suggestion is the quickest.

For the manual alternatives, search this newsgroup. It's been discussed
a lot.

You can uninstall Outlook from the server when you are done so you
don't have to waste a license.