Changing EF’s default connection factory from LocalDb to Sql Server

When you create a new project that makes use of Entity Framework 5, you'll notice how it uses LocalDb by default now. But let's assume you have a fully working instance of Sql Server that you wish to work against instead of LocalDb. How do you tell EF to use it? Simple, modify your application's config file. If you are running a web service or a website, your config file is web.config. If you are running a console application or a windows application, look for app.config.

LocalDb

  <entityFramework>

    <defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.LocalDbConnectionFactory, EntityFramework">

      <parameters>

        <parameter value="v11.0" />

      </parameters>

    </defaultConnectionFactory>

  </entityFramework>

Now, replace that portion of the configuration to make use of Sql Server instead of LocalDb.

Sql Server

  <entityFramework>

    <defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.SqlConnectionFactory, EntityFramework">

      <parameters>

        <parameter value="Data Source=.; Integrated Security=True; MultipleActiveResultSets=True" />

      </parameters>

    </defaultConnectionFactory>

  </entityFramework>

You only need to change the configuration to match your appropriate connection string.