How to connect to LocalDB in Visual Studio Server Explorer

Question

I can t believe I couldn t find a working solution to this after an hour of searching  I m following this article on Entity Framework 6 0 which gives a simple walk-through on Code First  I created the project and installed the latest EF Nuget package for the project to compile  I also verified that I have Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express LocalDB installed which came with Visual Studio 2013  I don t have any other instances of SQL installed on my local computer  The program runs and entries are added to the database and outputted in the console  But when the article says  check your localdb  it doesn t say how  I don t see any   mdf  or   ldf  files created under the project folder  I tried every way to connect Visual Studio s Server Explorer to LocalDB  The wizard cannot locate  localdb  or cannot find any provider in Server Explorer to accept connection string like  localdb  v11 0 Integrated Security true  I ve seen this asked several places in StackOverflow but no answer works or marked as answer  Please help  this doesn t have to be this frustrating   What are the steps to connect Visual Studio Server Explorer to LocalDB

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I followed the steps above  but I  forgot to install the SQL Server 2014 LocalDB before the Visual Studio 2015 configuration    My steps are as follow    Install the SQL Server 2014 LocalDB  Open Visual Studio 2015 and then SQL Server Object Explorer  Find your LocalDB under the SQL Server tag    Hope this help anybody

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It worked for me    Open command prompt Run  SqlLocalDB exe start  System response  LocalDB instance  mssqllocaldb  started   In VS  View Server Explorer  Right click  Data Connections Add Connection  Data Source  Microsoft SQL Server  SqlClient   Server name   localdb  MSSQLLocalDB  Log on to the server  Use Windows Authentication   Press  Test Connection   Then OK

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Scenario  Windows 8 1  VS2013 Ultimate  SQL Express Installed and running  SQL Server Browser Disabled  This worked for me     First I enabled SQL Server Browser under services   In Visual Studio   Open the Package Manager Console then type  Enable-Migrations  Then Type Enable-Migrations -ContextTypeName YourContextDbName that created the Migrations folder in VS   Inside the Migrations folder you will find the  Configuration cs  file  turn on automatic migrations by  AutomaticMigrationsEnabled   true  Run your application again  the environment creates a DefaultConnection and you will see the new tables from your context  This new connection points to the localdb  The created connection string shows  Data Source  LocalDb  v11 0      more parameters and path to the created mdf file     You can now create a new connection with      Server name   LocalDb  v11 0    hit refresh      Connect to a database  Select your new database under the dropdown   I hope it helps

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Fix doesn t work   Exactly as in the example illustration  all these steps only provide access to  system  databases  and no option to select existing user databases that you want to access   The solution to access a local  not Express Edition  Microsoft SQL server instance resides on the SQL Server side    Open the Run dialog  WinKey   R  Type   services msc  Select SQL Server Browser Click Properties Change  disabled  to either  Manual  or  Automatic  When the  Start  service button gets enable  click on it    Done  Now you can select your local SQL Server from the Server Name list in Connection Properties

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Select in     Data Source  Microsoft SQL Server  SqlClient  Server name   localdb  MSSQLLocalDB Log on to the server  Use Windows Authentication   Press Refresh button to get the database name

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Visual Studio 2015 RC  has LocalDb 12 installed  similar instructions to before but still shouldn t be required to know  magic   before hand to use this  the default instance should have been turned on      Rant complete  no for solution   cmd gt  sqllocaldb start   Which will display   LocalDB instance  MSSQLLocalDB  started    Your instance name might differ  Either way pop over to VS and open Server Explorer  right click Data Connections  choose Add  choose SQL Server  in the server name type    localdb  MSSQLLocalDB   Without entering in a DB name  click  Test Connection

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The following works with Visual Studio 2017 Community Edition on Windows 10 using SQLServer Express 2016     Open a PowerShell check what it is called using SqlLocalDB exe info and whether it is Running with SqlLocalDB exe info NAME  Here s what it looks like on my machine       gt  SqlLocalDB exe info MSSQLLocalDB  gt  SqlLocalDB exe info MSSQLLocalDB Name                mssqllocaldb Version             13 0 1601 5 Shared name  Owner               DESKTOP-I4H3E09 simon Auto-create         Yes State               Running Last start time     4 12 2017 8 24 36 AM Instance pipe name  np     pipe LOCALDB EFC58609 tsql query  gt    If it isn t running then you need to start it with SqlLocalDB exe start MSSQLLocalDB  When it is running you see the Instance pipe name  which starts with np     Copy that named pipe string  Within VS2017 open the view Server Explorer and create a new connection of type Microsoft SQL Server  SqlClient   don t be fooled by the other file types you want the full fat connection type  and set the Server name  to be the instance pipe name you copied from PowerShell    I also set the Connect to database to be the same database that was in the connection string that was working in my Dotnet Core   Entity Framework Core project which was set up using dotnet ef database update    You can login and create a database using the sqlcmd and the named pipe string    sqlcmd -S np     pipe LOCALDB EFC58609 tsql query 1 gt  create database EFGetStarted ConsoleApp NewDb  2 gt  GO   There are instructions on how to create a user for your application at https   docs microsoft com en-us sql tools sqllocaldb-utility

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Use SQL Server Object Explorer  SSOX  Instead     Unlike the other answers  this approach uses     - No special commands     - No complicated configurations     Just use the SQL Server Object Explorer   It s pretty straightforward      From the View menu  open SQL Server Object Explorer       Right click on the  YourTableName  table   View Designer     Done

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In Visual Studio 2012 all I had to do was enter    localdb  v11 0   Visual Studio 2015 and Visual Studio 2017 changed to    localdb  MSSQLLocalDB   as the server name when adding a Microsoft SQL Server Data source in   View Server Explorer  Right click  Data Connections Add Connection   and then the database names were populated  I didn t need to do all the other steps in the accepted answer  although it would be nice if the server name was available automatically in the server name combo box   You can also browse the LocalDB database names available on your machine using   View SQL Server Object Explorer

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OK  answering to my own question   Steps to connect LocalDB to Visual Studio Server Explorer   Open command prompt Run SqlLocalDB exe start v11 0 Run SqlLocalDB exe info v11 0 Copy the Instance pipe name that starts with np      In Visual Studio select TOOLS   Connect to Database    For Server Name enter  localdb  v11 0  If it didn t work  use the Instance pipe name that you copied earlier  You can also use this to connect with SQL Management Studio  Select the database on next dropdown list Click OK

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With SQL Server 2017 and Visual Studio 2015  I used localhost SQLEXPRESS

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The fastest way in Visual Studio 2017 is to go to Tools -  SQL Server -  New query   Choose from Local databases and choose the desired Database name at the bottom   Alternative way  Visual Studio 2017 Server name is    localdb  MSSQLLocalDB   Add the new connection using menu Tools -  Connect to Database

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Run the CMD as admin     from start menu  cmd  - wait for it to find it   Right click on cmd  and select open as administrator type   cd C  Program Files Microsoft SQL Server 120 Tools Binn type   SqlLocalDB start now type   SqlLocalDB info Shows the running sql instances available    choose what you want    to find more about the instance  type   SqlLocalDB info instanceName now from VS you can setup your connection In VS  View Server Explorer  Right click  Data Connections Add Connection  Data Source  Microsoft SQL Server  SqlClient   Server name   localdb  MSSQLLocalDB  Log on to the server  Use Windows Authentication  Press  Test Connection   Then OK  job done

[visual-studio] How to connect to LocalDB in Visual Studio Server Explorer?

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