LocalDB SQL Server 2014 Express creates 2 instances (localdb)\ProjectsV12 & (localdb)\MSSQLLocalDB?

Kasper Roma picture Kasper Roma · Nov 29, 2014 · Viewed 22.8k times · Source

I'm using SQL Server 2014 Express and the LocalDB option, and I have the following in my SQL Server object explorer pane in Visual Studio 2013...

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So what is the difference between (localdb)\ProjectsV12 & (localdb)\MSSQLLocalDB?

Answer

ErikEJ picture ErikEJ · Nov 29, 2014

The (localdb)\ProjectsV12 and (localdb)\ProjectsV13 instances are created by SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) and should not be used by applications

(localdb)\MSSQLLocalDB is the SQL Server Express 2014/2016 LocalDB default instance name and an "automatic instance".

You can use the sqllocaldb.exe command line tool to manage which version (2014 or 2016) owns the MSSqlLocaldb instance

And (localdb)\v11.0 is the SQL Server 2012 LocalDB default instance name