Windows Azure Tools: Failed to initialize Windows Azure storage emulator error

Resolving Failed to initialize Windows Azure storage emulator Error.

I thought to start learning Windows Azure. I installed Azure SDK and created a project by choosing Windows Azure project template from cloud tab and creating a Web Role.





I just put a label on aspx file and when I tried to run the project I got the following error.



When I switched to Output Window, I got the Error message

Windows Azure Tools: Failed to initialize Windows Azure storage emulator. Unable to start Development Storage. Failed to start Development Storage: the SQL Server instance 'localhost\SQLExpress' could not be found. Please configure the SQL Server instance for Development Storage using the 'DSInit' utility in the Windows Azure SDK.



So to resolve this, Open command prompt in Administrator mode



Change Directory to C:\ProgramFiles\WindowsAzureSDK\v1.3\Bin\DevStore



Now type the command

C:\Program Files\Windows azure SDK\v1.3\bin\devstore DSINIT /SQLINSTANCE:SQLTest /Forcecreate

There are only a couple of points to notice in executing the preceding command:

SQLTEST: Is the name of the SQL Server instance. Make sure you are giving the name of a SQL Server instance name here rather than your PC name.

If you are not providing a valid SQL Server instance name then you may get the following exception.



On successful execution of the command, you will get a Dialog box such as shown below for the success message.