title: Can't connect to SQL 2012 remotely by IP and named instance
body: <p>First off, I already know that Windows Firewall is blocking my connection -- I just don't know what to do about it. When I turn WF all the way off, my remote connection works. I already have a Rule to allow incoming requests at port 1433, and it seems that's the right port, but I'm unsure. Now for more details.</p>
  
  <p>I had SQL Server 2008 R2 on my remote dedicated server and had no problem connecting remotely via SSMS. But then I installed SQL Server 2012. It works fine, but I was forced to create a named instance for it during installation because the default instance is in use by SQL08.</p>
  
  <p>My ASP.NET connection string running on that box works fine and connects to sql12 with no problem. Here is the obfuscated connection string:</p>
  
  <p>Server=myserver\MSSQLSSERVER2012;Database=MyDB;User Id=Me; password=MyPaSS;</p>
  
  <p>It looks like the named instance is using port 1433. I verified that SQL Browser is active and running. I have a windows firewall exception that allows sql server and port 1433, though that was there before and I'm wondering if that's only working for the now-disabled SQL08 (how do I ensure this is working for SQL12).</p>
  
  <p>Say the IP to that server is 1.2.3.4</p>
  
  <p>From SSMS I have tried connecting to the server thusly: </p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>1.2.3.4</li>
  <li>1.2.3.4\MSSQLSSERVER2012</li>
  <li>1.2.3.4\MSSQLSSERVER2012,1433</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Nothing works. Always the error is:</p>
  
  <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hnqWV.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>
  
  <p>I have read a number of articles on this topic and they all say:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>enable SQL Browser (done)</li>
  <li>open a port in Windows firewall (seems done ??)</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>So how can I discover what exactly I need to do in Windows Firewall to fix this? I cannot turn the whole thing off, this is a public web server.</p>