Error when updating DB: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified

Question

I'm using EF6 and have been making a few changes to my model. Now all the sudden I get the following error when trying to update my database through the nuget command Update-Database:

A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified)

I did not change anything in my connection settings (or web.config in general) but here's my connection string:

  <connectionStrings>
    <add name="DefaultConnection" connectionString="Data Source=(LocalDb)\v11.0;AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|\LM.DataAccess.mdf;Initial Catalog=LM.DataAccess;Integrated Security=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
  </connectionStrings>

In Server Explorer -> Data Connections I can access the database without any problems.

What could be the issue here? I tried deleting the database through the SQL Server Object Explorer but I still get the error.

Still need help people. Would really appreciate if someone could help me out - I've tried everything I could!

Answer 1

Thats caused when your migrations project is not the StartUp project, which means you'll need to set the connectionstring in the StartUp project for it to work correctly.

Hope it helps. Best Regards.

Answer 2

I had the same problem, In my case the connection string is being read from the web project not the EntityFramework project, so i made the my Web project the Solution StartUp project so the Package Console Manager can read the connection string, and in Package Console Manager i choosed EntityFramework project as Default project.