hello all i'm having a bear of a time getting visual studio 2010 (ultimate i think) to properly attach to my database. it was moved from original spot to #MYAPP#/#MYAPP#.Web/App_Data/#MDF_FILE#.mdf. I have three instances of sql server running on this machine. i have tried to replace the old mdf file with my new one and cannot get the connectionstring right for it.

what i'm really wanting to do is to just open some DB instance, run a DB create script. Then I can have a DB that was generated via my edmx (generate database from model) in silverlight business application (c#)

right now, when i go to server explorer in VS, choose add new connection, choose MS SQL Server Database FIle (SqlClient), choose my file location (app_data directory), use windows authentication, and hit the Test Connection button I get the following error:

Unable to open the physical file "". Operating system error 5: "5(Access Denied.)". An attempt to attach to an auto-named database for file"" failed. A database with the same name exists, or specified file cannot be opened, or it is located on UNC share.

The mdf file was created on the same machine by connecting to (local) on the sql server management studio, getting a new query, pasting in the SQL from the generated ddl file, adding a CREATE DATABASE [NcrCarDatabase]; GO before the pasted SQL, and executing the query. I then disconnected from the DB in management studio, closed management studio, navigated to the DATA directory for that instance, and copying the mdf and ldf files to my application's app_data folder. I am then trying to connect to the same file inside visual studio.

I hope that gives more clarity to my problems :).

Connection string is:

Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;AttachDbFilename=C:\SourceCode\NcrCarDatabase\NcrCarDatabase.Web\App_Data\NcrCarDatabase.mdf;Integrated Security=True;Connect Timeout=30;User Instance=True