No Entity Framework provider found for the ADO.NET provider with invariant name 'System.Data.SqlClient'.

Question

We are using EntityFramework 6 with Code First. We have a console app that has no reference to EntityFramework but reads the connection string from its App.config. It calls the DatabaseInitializationUtilities assembly passing the connection string as a parameter.

DatabaseInitializationUtilities has the reference to EF6 (EntityFramework and EntityFramework.SqlServer). Its App.config is this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <configuration>
     <configSections>
        <!-- For more information on Entity Framework configuration, visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=237468 -->
      <section name="entityFramework" type="System.Data.Entity.Internal.ConfigFile.EntityFrameworkSection, EntityFramework, Version=6.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false" />
     </configSections>
     <system.serviceModel>
         <bindings>
            <basicHttpBinding>
                <binding name="BasicHttpBinding_IAuthentication" />
            </basicHttpBinding>
         </bindings>
         <client>
            <endpoint address="http://localhost/SecurityServices/Authentication.svc" binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="BasicHttpBinding_IAuthentication" contract="SecurityService.IAuthentication" name="BasicHttpBinding_IAuthentication" />
         </client>
      </system.serviceModel>
      <entityFramework>
         <defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.LocalDbConnectionFactory, EntityFramework">
            <parameters>
               <parameter value="v11.0" />
            </parameters>
         </defaultConnectionFactory>
         <providers>
            <provider invariantName="System.Data.SqlClient" type="System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.SqlProviderServices, EntityFramework.SqlServer" />
         </providers>
      </entityFramework>
   </configuration>

When execution reaches a line where DatabaseInitializationUtilities attempts to run a script

context.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand(script.ScriptText)

the error is thrown:

No Entity Framework provider found for the ADO.NET provider with invariant name 'System.Data.SqlClient'. Make sure the provider is registered in the 'entityFramework' section of the application config file. See http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=260882 for more information.

I believe the remedy is exactly what I have in my config file, so I don't understand the problem.

NOTE: Resharper is bluelining the node and reporting "The element 'EntityFramework' has an invalid child element 'providers'. However, the section was injected by NuGet when I installed EF6.

Any ideas?

Take a look at the following question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14033193/entity-framework-provider-type-could-not-be-loaded — Lloyd, Jan 17 '14 at 00:35
Thank you. The comment to [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14033193/entity-framework-provider-type-could-not-be-loaded][1] was helpful. [1]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14033193/entity-framework-provider-type-could-not-be-loaded — Dewey, Jan 17 '14 at 16:33
Add EntityFramework.SqlServer.dll to the client app and add connectionstrings to its app.config file did the trick. Now the error is gone http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18455747/no-entity-framework-provider-found-for-the-ado-net-provider-with-invariant-name — Junior Mayhé, Aug 15 '14 at 23:20
In our case, the EF assemblies were GACed. In this case, you should use the full assembly name in the config file: — pholpar, Nov 16 '16 at 11:24
Possible duplicate of [No Entity Framework provider found for the ADO.NET provider with invariant name 'System.Data.SqlClient'](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18455747/no-entity-framework-provider-found-for-the-ado-net-provider-with-invariant-name) — Rosberg Linhares, Mar 01 '17 at 22:24

hdev · Answer 1 · 2016-10-21T13:45:09.670

53

You need to create a reference, so it will be copied in the debug folder. So later it can accessed in runtime.

Don't to copy any files, just create this reference:

private volatile Type _dependency;

public MyClass()
{
    _dependency = typeof(System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.SqlProviderServices);
}

edited Oct 21 '16 at 13:45

answered Feb 03 '14 at 15:49

hdev

6,097
1
45
62

6

Epic win! The reason it fails is that only assemblies that are used directly get copied. This assembly has no direct reference so does not get copied. – satnhak Apr 03 '14 at 10:49
11

I think the EF team have some big explaining up to do on this one. – ProfK Oct 30 '14 at 07:42
Download the dll and add it manually to your primary app. Make sure 'Copy Local = true' under properties. I would not recommend the solution to the question as the workaround code will be deleted when you update your entity model. – DJJ Dec 06 '16 at 09:06
That is really interesting. Not sure how that works, but it does work :-) – AH. Nov 12 '17 at 12:48

score 17 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 25 '14 at 19:55

17

do you have the assembly EntityFramework.SqlServer.dll in your application path? I had the same Problem and after copying the dll into the application path every Thing worked fine.

answered Jan 25 '14 at 19:55

Thomas

171
2

i ran into the same problem and fixed by adding the EntityFramework.SqlServer.dll which was missing – Anil C May 23 '14 at 12:12

score 13 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 28 '14 at 03:20

13

Finally found the answer in this blog:

http://robsneuron.blogspot.com/2013/11/entity-framework-upgrade-to-6.html

answered Mar 28 '14 at 03:20

Motty

579
1
6
9

Yeo, that was the problem for me too... I deleted the whole database and checked out the solution from scratch, and after the first build I got this exact "error massage" :-) Inserted the volatile refrence and it worked. – Xan-Kun Clark-Davis Nov 14 '15 at 12:08
So why not briefly mention the main idea of it here? – Deilan Apr 22 '16 at 09:46
@Deilan the idea is the same as in dh_cgn answer http://stackoverflow.com/a/21531672/52277 – Michael Freidgeim Jun 07 '16 at 21:21

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 05 '15 at 12:09

5

I had this problem too. Everything worked locally when I ran my .net mvc app but when I published it I got this error. The problem was that I had to reference the EntityFrameworl.SqlServer also in my web project alhough I had seperate project for Data. What is strange is that this error was only thrown when app was published. This is some serious bug probably from Microsoft. I used EF 6.1.1.

answered Feb 05 '15 at 12:09

TheMentor

464
9
25

I had this exact same problem. My reference to the ef assemblies is in a seperate data project referenced from my mvc project. I installed ef from nuget to my mvc project, re-published and it worked. Thanks for the fix – Mike Mar 26 '16 at 17:10

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 21 '16 at 15:32

4

This is because EntityFramework.SqlServer.dllis not copied into your project. Add that dll and it will hopefully work.You can find that from the project where you added datamodel.

answered Mar 21 '16 at 15:32

Baqer Naqvi

6,011
3
50
68

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 24 '15 at 13:56

For me it turned out that my provider reference in the web.config file was incorrect. I believe that the nuget package might not properly include the provider.

I replaced my provider with this and it worked:

  <entityFramework>
      <defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.SqlConnectionFactory, EntityFramework" />
      <providers>
          <provider invariantName="System.Data.SqlClient" type="System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.SqlProviderServices, EntityFramework.SqlServer" />
      </providers>
  </entityFramework>

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 12 '17 at 15:10

2

I also had a similar problem

My problem was solved by doing the following:

answered Oct 12 '17 at 15:10

BehrouzMoslem

9,053
3
27
34

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 20 '16 at 19:16

The best way to get ride of such a kind of problem is to include the reference EntityFramework.SqlServer.dll into your project the press F4 (op the properties) change the property to Copy to Local =True so each and every time when publish the app it will be copied to the published folder.

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Sep 15 '17 at 14:44

0

I tend to add EntityFramework to the web project as well as the assembly that actually references it.

answered Sep 15 '17 at 14:44

David Hyde

902
9
18

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Aug 15 '18 at 14:21

0

Add "EntityFramework.SqlServer.dll" into your project bin folder will resolved your issue.

answered Aug 15 '18 at 14:21

vishal

233
4
7

No Entity Framework provider found for the ADO.NET provider with invariant name 'System.Data.SqlClient'.

10 Answers10

Linked