Problem:

When starting Outlook an error message "Business Contact Manager for Outlook could not connect to the shared database. Do you want to work offline?" appears.

Regardless of the option chosen, Business Contact Manager (BCM) does not open/start.

Solution:

The solution to this problem is to start the SQL Server (MSSMLBIZ) Service. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open the Computer Management Console (right click on My Computer and click on Mange or find it in the Control Panel in Administrative Tools)
2. Go to SQL Server 2005 Services (locate it in the left-hand panel under Services and Applications, SQL Server Configuration Manager)
3. Right Click on SQL Server (MSSMLBIZ) and click on Properties
4. You may need to enter the username and password of an administrator here and click on Apply (I had to do this before it worked)
5. Click on start
6. Start the SQL Server Browser in the same way

Now restart or start Outlook and the problem should be solved.

You may also want to check the name of the computer the database is located on. To do this, follow these steps:

1. In Outlook, click File, Data File Management
2. In the Data Files Tab check the computer name next to BCM (you may want to amend/fix this if you have changed your computer name)

Additional Notes:

This Database is on the local machine – not a remote PC, but the name of the PC is used in Data Files (see above).

I am running SQL 2005, XP Pro SP3 and Outlook 2007 SP1 on this machine.