Testing a Connection from Client to SQL Server using UDL

A connection from client to SQL Server can easily be checked with the help of a .udl file. This is also helpful for building a connection string.

Step 1 - Create a .udl file
Create a text file and name it for example test.udl
Double click on test.udl to open the connection dialog.

Step 2 - Choose the type of connection
Go to the first tab “Provider”
Choose “Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server” or any other provider according to your needs.

Step 3 - Set up connection properties
Go to the second tab “Connection”, choose the server, enter username/password and choose a database from the drop down list.

Step 4 - Connection String
Once you click on “OK” a connection string based on your connection settings is written to test.udl. After you open test.udl you will find a connection string like this.

[oledb]; Everything after this line is an OLE DB initstringProvider=SQLOLEDB.1;Password=wrf%32g;Persist Security Info=True;User ID=siva;Initial Catalog=msdb;Data Source=SQLTEST