As far as i know, only ONE catalog will ever appear for a SQL server linked server...and that is the list of objects in the database the linked server points to;

the proc sp_tables_ex (which is what the GUI calls

) only returns the current database context

if you leave off the @catalog parameter, you'll be dropped into the default database of the login you are using, probably master;

it as a default of master, there's probably not much to see there.

try this:

EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedserver

@server = N'My2012Server',

@srvproduct = N'',

@datasrc = N'DEV223\SQL2012',

@provider = N'SQLOLEDB';

EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedserver

@server = N'My2012ServerV2',

@srvproduct = N'',

@datasrc = N'DEV223\SQL2012',

@provider = N'SQLOLEDB',

@catalog = 'SandBox';

EXEC sp_tables_ex My2012Server

EXEC sp_tables_ex My2012ServerV2