Default instance name of SQL Server Express
I don't have access to a SQL Server Express installation at the moment, but I know that the installer usually installs SQL Server Express with an instance name. What is the default instance name for SQL Server Express installations? I.e., how do you access such an installation by default? Is it localhost\SQLEXPRESS$ ? Is the same name used for both 2005 and 2008 servers?
Answer
When installing SQL Express, you'll usually get a named instance called SQLExpress, which as others have said you can connect to with localhost\SQLExpress.
If you're looking to get a 'default' instance, which doesn't have a name, you can do that as well. If you put MSSQLServer as the name when installing, it will create a default instance which you can connect to by just specifying 'localhost'.