Find sqlcmd.exe Path for SQL Server Using Powershell

Problem:-

In somehow we can’t find sqlcmd.exe location easily and that may be stress in a difficult situation like the down of one critical production server and for that, I figure out a solution for that problem by running below script to find where sqlcmd.exe in my server regardless of the location of SQL Server setup files, commonly that used when using Windows Core as an OS with SQL Server.

I want to point out that yes, we can use Powershell instead by using Invoke-sqlcmd cmdlet. I know not all of us know Powershell and most of us do know T-SQL. Until that changes happen and I expect it will 😃 SQLCMD will be around.

Solution:-

By copying n paste below script you can find out where the sqlcmd.exe exist on our server regardless of the location of SQL Server setup files

Note:-

Maybe take a long time depending on the number of files on your disk, don't worry it workes perfect at the end 😃

Using Powershell:-

Next Step:-

Take the full path by copying and connect to SQL Server using sqlcmd as you wish like below example

Example Using Powershell to run sqlcmd:- 

Set-Location 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\Client SDK\ODBC\130\Tools\Binn'

Ref:-

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/tools/sqlcmd-utility?view=sql-server-2017

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/invoke-sqlcmd-cmdlet?view=sql-server-2014