Why LocalDb needs user profile to be loaded?

Question

I am playing with LocalDb from IIS. There are several instructions how to do that, e.g. https://stackoverflow.com/a/13768812/121968.

For what functionality LocalDb needs the user profile and other specific requirements? (It is possible, for instance, to tweak the Local LocalDb not to call SHGetKnownFolderPath?)

Answer 1

LocalDB needs the user profile because it stores instances in "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Instances". Usually all guides tell you to connect to (localdb)\v11. What is "v11"? It's the name of an instance that represented by the folder "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Instances\v11".

So in fact a LocalDB database is not "just" a single file, it is also a bunch of files stored in the instance folder. You can play with it. For example

SqlLocalDB.exe create LocalDBIsAHoax
SqlLocalDB.exe start LocalDBIsAHoax
sqlcmd -S (localdb)\LocalDBIsAHoax
1> create database MySuperDuperDB
2> go
1> :exit
dir "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Instances\LocalDBIsAHoax"

I don't know a mean to make LocalDB place its instances in some other place.