Question

I´d like to have my application return instances of SQL Server 2008 R2 Developer/Express.

I´m using:

System.Data.DataTable lokalni_servery = Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.SmoApplication.EnumAvailableSqlServers();

foreach (System.Data.DataRow row in lokalni_servery.Rows)
{
    local_servers.Items.Add(row["Server"].ToString());
}

On my friend´s notebook with SQL Server 2008 R2 express 32 bit, it doesn´t find anything, but on my notebook with SQL Server 2008 R2 Developer 64 bit, it finds it almost everytime.
I need to be able to find this instance of SQL on both machines.

Does anybody know why the application is behaving like this?

Is there a way to alter the method allowing for both notebooks to find the instance?

Answer 1

SmoApplication.EnumAvailableSqlServers enumerates available instances, which means that the servers must be running. Just the fact that they are installed is not enough.

Also the SQL Server Browser Service must be running!

See How to: Start and Stop the SQL Server Browser Service (SQL Server Express) on MSDN