How do I find the data directory for a SQL Server instance?

Question

We have a few huge databases (20GB+) which mostly contain static lookup data. Because our application executes joins against tables in these databases, they have t

Answer 1

You can find default Data and Log locations for the current SQL Server instance by using the following T-SQL:

DECLARE @defaultDataLocation nvarchar(4000)
DECLARE @defaultLogLocation nvarchar(4000)

EXEC master.dbo.xp_instance_regread
    N'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
    N'Software\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\MSSQLServer',
    N'DefaultData', 
    @defaultDataLocation OUTPUT

EXEC master.dbo.xp_instance_regread
    N'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
    N'Software\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\MSSQLServer',
    N'DefaultLog', 
    @defaultLogLocation OUTPUT

SELECT @defaultDataLocation AS 'Default Data Location',
       @defaultLogLocation AS 'Default Log Location'