Following a series of Windows Updates to your server you may encounter an issue connecting to your Sharepoint website. If the site comes up with the message “Cannot connect to the configuration database” then this is the result of one of the updates applied. To resolve the issue follow the steps below on your server:

1. Go to Start > All Programs > Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (or 2008) > Configuration Tools > SQL Server Configuration Manager
2. Now navigate through the tree on the left side to “SQL Server Network Configuration” and select “Protocols for MSSQLServer”
3. From the right pane ensure that “Named Pipes” is enabled
   
4. Once it has been enabled then you can restart the service “SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER)”
5. Now check the Sharepoint website to confirm that it is working again.

These steps resolved the issue on our server so I hope this will help others resolve their issue.

– Rob