SQLServer Instance

Question

Am trying to get a list of all sql sever instance(c#) in my network using this code but i get an empty list

var dt = SqlDataSourceEnumerator.Instance.GetDataSources();

to verify i put in CMD this "sqlcmd -L" and "osql -L" and i get the list.

so what am doing wrong, i dont know if OS matter am using Win10. Also someone know how to do this using dlls that sqlserver have?

thanks.

Praveen Dhatrika · Answer

Ok so I resolved the issue. What I have done is a few things: First I scan the domain for machines. Check if the SQLBrowser service is running if not start it! which is done by the ServiceController class located in system.ServiceProcess After all the SQLBrowser have been started I use the SqlDataSourceEnumerator to enumerate through all the instances. For those interested in the code: Note: you need network admin rights to start it on the remote machines. public void StartSqlBrowserService(List activeMachines) { ServiceController myService = new ServiceController(); myService.ServiceName = SQLBrowser; foreach (var machine in activeMachines) { try { myService.MachineName = machine; string svcStatus = myService.Status.ToString(); switch (svcStatus) { case ContinuePending: Console.WriteLine(Service is attempting to continue.); break; case Paused: Console.WriteLine(Service is paused.); Console.WriteLine(Attempting to continue the service.); myService.Continue(); break; case PausePending: Console.WriteLine(Service is pausing.); Thread.Sleep(5000); try { Console.WriteLine(Attempting to continue the service.); myService.Start(); } catch (Exception e) { Console.WriteLine(e.Message); } break; case Running: Console.WriteLine(Service is already running.); break; case StartPending: Console.WriteLine(Service is starting.); break; case Stopped: Console.WriteLine(Service is stopped.); Console.WriteLine(Attempting to start service.); myService.Start(); break; case StopPending: Console.WriteLine(Service is stopping.); Thread.Sleep(5000); try { Console.WriteLine(Attempting to restart service.); myService.Start(); } catch (Exception e) { Console.WriteLine(e.Message); } break; } } catch (Exception e) { Console.WriteLine(e.Message); } } } And then this is what I use to retrieve the instances. public static void SqlTestInfo() { SqlDataSourceEnumerator instance = SqlDataSourceEnumerator.Instance; DataTable table = instance.GetDataSources(); DisplayData(table); } private static void DisplayData(DataTable table) { foreach (DataRow row in table.Rows) { foreach (DataColumn dataColumn in table.Columns) { Console.WriteLine({0} = {1} dataColumn.ColumnName row[dataColumn]); } Console.WriteLine(); } } Please check this an answer if it is helpful