Hi Bill,
What error message do you get when connecting to SQL Server?
From your description, you cannot see the express instance in the Local Servers tab in the Browse for Servers dialog, could you please run the
discovery report to check that if Database Engine Services of SQL Server 2012 Express is installed properly on your machine?
If SQL Server 2012 database engine service is not installed, please install it firstly. However, if the SQL Server 2012 database engine service has been installed, , the reason may due to SQL Server cannot get the appropriate registry entry information
in the System Registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\Instance Names). Please make sure that your account has read permission on the registry, also make sure that you right click on SSMS and choose Run As Administrator to start
it.
Thanks,
Lydia