The connection string 'MyConnection' in the application's configuration file does not contain the required providerName attribute."

Question

I use Entity Framework Code First,

My connection string is in a configuration file:

<connectionStrings>
    <clear/>
    <add name="ApplicationServices" connectionString="Data Source=PC-X;Initial Catalog=MYdb;Integrated Security=True"/>
  </connectionStrings>

When I try to access the data (something that should create the DB) is falling with the following error:

The connection string 'ApplicationServices' in the application's configuration file does not contain the required providerName attribute."

What am I missing?

score 190 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 25 '13 at 14:54

190

You're missing the following piece of code after the connectionString attribute (assuming that you're using SQL):

providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"

answered Feb 25 '13 at 14:54

Corey Adler

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19

If using Entity Framework: `providerName="System.Data.EntityClient"` – Dr1Ku Oct 23 '13 at 09:44
3

I was trying to add this to the connection string. Rather it is a new attribute to the element. A sibling attribute to the connectionString attribute. – Sean B May 19 '15 at 16:27
@IronMan84 i got type cast error after using SqlClient and EntityClient worked – Zia Ul Rehman Mughal Mar 05 '16 at 05:13

score 16 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 05 '17 at 02:28

16

Sometime in the future. the complete code

<add name="YouContext" connectionString="Integrated Security=True;Persist Security Info=False;Initial Catalog=YourDatabaseName;Data Source=YourPCName;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>

answered Mar 05 '17 at 02:28

Krishneil

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 24 '19 at 09:23

Go down in your web.config until you reach the providers tag. For instance, here's my providers statement:

<providers><provider invariantName="System.Data.SqlClient" ... /></providers>

you should add this System.Data.SqlClient as a provider name in your connection string so your connection string should look like this:

  <connectionStrings>
 <add name="ApplicationServices" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" connectionString="Data Source=PC-X;Initial Catalog=MYdb;Integrated Security=True"/>
  </connectionStrings>

+1 for mentioning this is in the web.config, as someone using a product with dozens of different config files — apoteet, Dec 30 '20 at 17:28

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 26 '19 at 08:25

In my case the problem was with an incorrect StartUp project target. In the PM console the target migration assembly project was correct.

I have a multiproject solution and the target was on some web-service project.

So I changed the StartUp to the main WebSite project and the migration have complited without errors.

The connection string 'MyConnection' in the application's configuration file does not contain the required providerName attribute."

4 Answers4

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