Named Pipes Provider: Could not open a connection to SQL Server [53]

Error 53 is an OS error which maps to ERROR_BAD_NETPATH (The network path was not found). Depending on how you setup your linked server, a connection from the current SQL Server process to the remote one will be attempted. Due to the nature of the error, it seems to be attempted with Named Pipes protocol and some of the OS calls (like CreatePipe for instance) returns the OS error 53. In most of the cases this is related to the network name resolution of the remote server or it might be permissions-related, e.g. if your current SQL Server instance is running under Local System account (which doesn't have network access privileges).

 

Please see the detailed description on how to setup a linked server in the SQL Server Books Online, but to start you could try the following:

(a) Examine your current SQL Server service account (the local instance - the one where you are trying to setup the linked server to the remote machine). Depending on the authentication configured for the linked server, you might need to use an account which has network access. You could examine the service account using Management Studio or Configuration Manager

 

(b) Check the network name of the remote server. To eliminate network resolution issues, try to connect to it from the local SQL Server machine via sqlcmd or try to setup the linked server with the IP address of the remote machine instead of the name.

 

(c) Force using TCP/IP protocol instead of named pipes by either prefixing the server name with "tcp:" or by setting the protocols order (Configuration Manager) or by creating an explicit alias for it.

 

If the issue persists, please post the exact error again and your linked server configuration (security, etc.).