title: The specified LocalDb instance does not exist
body: <p>I've been using a localDB named 'Projects' for a while now. This is the same database that is created by default ASP.NET MVC 5 project. However, suddenly it stopped and I'm not able to connect to it nor restart it using</p>
  
  <pre><code>SqlLocalDb start Projects
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I get</p>
  
  <pre><code>The specified LocalDB instance does not exist.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I see the folder in</p>
  
  <pre><code>C:\Users\[My UserName]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Instances\Projects
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>also, I have v11.0 in</p>
  
  <pre><code>C:\Users\[My UserName]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Instances\v11.0
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm able to connect to v11.</p>
  
  <p>What else can I try to reconnect to it?</p>
  
  <p>The connection string is</p>
  
  <pre><code> &lt;add name="DefaultConnection"  connectionString="Data Source=(localdb)\Projects;Initial Catalog=master;Integrated Security=True;Connect Timeout=30;Encrypt=False;TrustServerCertificate=False" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" /&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>Edit</strong></p>
  
  <p>I tried Attaching the Db file to the connection string</p>
  
  <pre><code>AttachDbFileName=C:\Users\[My UserName]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Instances\Projects\master.mdf;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However, I'm still not able to connect</p>
  
  <pre><code>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: 50 - Local Database Runtime error occurred. The specified LocalDB instance
  does not exist.)
  </code></pre>