Have you ever wondered how to determine which sqlservr.exe process in Task Manager corresponds to a specific instance of SQL Server running on your server? If you have a multi-instance server and the accounts running each SQL Service are the same, it can be a bit tricky to differentiate between the processes. In this article, we will explore a couple of methods to help you identify the SQL Server instances in Task Manager.

Method 1: Using Task Manager

The first method involves using Task Manager itself. Follow these steps:

1. Open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc or by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting Task Manager.
2. Go to the Processes tab.
3. Right-click on the column headers and select Select Columns….
4. In the Select Columns window, check the box next to PID (Process Identifier) and click OK.
5. You will now see the process ID (PID) column in Task Manager.
6. Look for the sqlservr.exe processes. Each instance of SQL Server will have its own corresponding sqlservr.exe process.

Now that you have the process IDs, you can proceed to match them with the SQL Server instances.

Method 2: Using SQL Configuration Manager

The second method involves using SQL Configuration Manager. Follow these steps:

1. Open SQL Configuration Manager.
2. Go to the SQL Services tab.
3. Right-click on the SQL instance that you want to match up to a process and select Properties.
4. Click on the Services tab.
5. On the General tab, you should see a Process ID property. This will correspond to the process ID of the sqlservr.exe process in Task Manager.

Method 3: Using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

The third method involves using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). Follow these steps:

1. Connect to each SQL Server instance in SSMS.
2. Open the SQL Server log.
3. Scroll to the start of the log file.
4. Look for an entry that contains the process ID of the SQL Server instance.

When the SQL Server service starts up, it writes the process ID to the SQL Server log. By checking the log file, you can easily identify the process ID associated with each SQL Server instance.

By using one of these methods, you can now confidently determine which sqlservr.exe process in Task Manager corresponds to each specific instance of SQL Server running on your server. This knowledge can be helpful for troubleshooting, monitoring, and managing your SQL Server instances.

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below.