c# - How to list the SQL Server Instances installed on a local machine? ( Only local )

Question

I would like to know if there's a way to list the SQL Server instances installed on the local computer.

SqlDataSourceEnumerator and EnumAvailableSqlServers don't do the trick as I don't need the instances that are over the local network.

Answer 1

Direct access to Windows Registry isn't the recommended solution by MS, because they can change keys/paths. But I agree that SmoApplication.EnumAvailableSqlServers() and SqlDataSourceEnumerator.Instance fails providing instances on 64-bit platforms.

Getting data from Windows Registry, keep in mind the difference in Registry access between x86 and x64 platforms. 64-bit edition of Windows stores data in different parts of system registry and combines them into views. So using RegistryView is essential.

using Microsoft.Win32;

RegistryView registryView = Environment.Is64BitOperatingSystem ? RegistryView.Registry64 : RegistryView.Registry32;
using (RegistryKey hklm = RegistryKey.OpenBaseKey(RegistryHive.LocalMachine, registryView))
{
    RegistryKey instanceKey = hklm.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWAREMicrosoftMicrosoft SQL ServerInstance NamesSQL", false);
    if (instanceKey != null)
    {
        foreach (var instanceName in instanceKey.GetValueNames())
        {
            Console.WriteLine(Environment.MachineName + @"" + instanceName);
        }
    }
}

If you are looking for 32-bit instances on a 64-bit OS (pretty weird, but possible), you will need to look:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWow6432NodeMicrosoftMicrosoft SQL Server