SQL2012 LocalDB: how to check in c# if it is currently installed?

Question

How to check in c# code if LocalDB currently installed? also, how to check if SQLNCLI11 presents in system?

Answer 1

I found this nuget package that wraps up working with SQLLocalDB Has the following command

SqlLocalDbApi.IsLocalDBInstalled()

Answer 2

Check if LocalDB is installed, by looking for this registry key:

[HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Installed Versions\11.0]

SQLNCLI11 - check the file version and presence of this file: C:\WINDOWS\system32\sqlncli.dll

Answer 3

Here is a VB.NET example checking for LOCALDB

Public Shared Function CheckLocalDBExists() As Boolean
    Dim s As String = ""
    Dim reg As RegistryKey
    Dim rtn As Boolean = False
    reg = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Installed Versions\12.0", True)
    Try
        s = reg.GetValue("ParentInstance", "").ToString
        reg.Close()
    Catch ex As Exception
        s = Nothing
    End Try
    'MessageBox.Show(s)
    If s = "MSSQL12E.LOCALDB" Then
        rtn = True
    End If
    Return rtn
End Function

Answer 4

I'm using the answer to this question to check for the existence of sqllocaldb.exe

Like so:

public static bool IsLocalDBInstalled()
{
    return ExistsOnPath("SqlLocalDB.exe"); ;
}

public static bool ExistsOnPath(string fileName)
{
    return GetFullPath(fileName) != null;
}

public static string GetFullPath(string fileName)
{
    if (File.Exists(fileName))
        return Path.GetFullPath(fileName);

    var values = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH");
    foreach (var path in values.Split(';'))
    {
        var fullPath = Path.Combine(path, fileName);
        if (File.Exists(fullPath))
            return fullPath;
    }
    return null;
}