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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-01T00:36:10+00:00

I am using the code below t programmatically restore a SQL database using VB.Net

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I am using the code below t programmatically restore a SQL database using VB.Net

        Dim srvConn2 As New ServerConnection(strDataSource)
        srvConn2.LoginSecure = False
        srvConn2.Login = strDBUserID
        srvConn2.Password = strDBPassword
        Dim srv3 As New Server(srvConn2)
        Dim res As Restore = New Restore()

        If OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog() = System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then
          res.Devices.AddDevice(OpenFileDialog1.FileName, DeviceType.File)
          res.Database = "MyDatabaseName"
          res.ReplaceDatabase = True
          res.SqlRestore(srv3)
          MsgBox("Restore Complete", vbInformation)
        End If

This works fine when the backup file is located on the same machine where the database is running. Problems start when the database is on another machine on the network. Is there some way to make the OpenFileDialog show the data structure of the remote machine so that the DB backup file can be loaded from there? SQL Management studio does show the remote file structure when you try to manually restore a database. I was wondering if there is a control similar to the one that comes up on SQL Management Studio.

If this cannot be done, is there any way to make remote SQL server restore database from a file on the local machine? I would rather not use shared network drives or UNC paths since this should be as easy as possible and I don’t want to have users having to play around with sharing and stuff.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Your first case is when your code runs locally and the SQL is remote and backup is remote. There’s no standard control for browsing the files on remote server, but if you have sufficient rights, you can access the remote file system through SQL’s xp_cmdshell command (link). You can write your own control utilizing xp_cmdshell to look similar to the OpenFileDialog.

    Your second case is when backup is local. There’s absolutely no way SQL can access it without you providing a correct UNC path.

    A workaround could be to allow user to select a local file, then (without user knowing) the program would upload this file to a predetermined location on the remote SQL server and SQL restores it from that location.

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