Edit

Share via

Release notes for SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 19 and earlier versions

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics

This article details updates, improvements, and bug fixes for SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 19 and earlier versions.

Note

Releases of SSMS prior to 18.6 don't authenticate to Database Engines through Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication (MFA). To continue using MFA, you need SSMS 18.6 or later.

Connectivity to Azure Analysis Services through Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication requires SSMS 18.5.1 or later.

Current SSMS release

For information about the latest version of SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), see Install SQL Server Management Studio.

Release notes

This section contains release notes for SSMS 19 and earlier versions. For release notes for different versions of SSMS, see:

19.3

Download SSMS 19.3

  • Release number: 19.3
  • Build number: 19.3.4.0
  • Release date: January 10, 2024

Available languages:

What's new in 19.3

Feature Details
Azure Data Studio installation integration The installation of SSMS installs Azure Data Studio 1.47.1.

Bug fixes in 19.3

Feature Details
Accessibility Addressed issue with screen reader announcing incomplete or incorrect information in the database properties dialog.
Always Encrypted Fixed inability to change the Enable Secure Enclaves option when creating a new Azure SQL Database using a non-English installation of SSMS.
Availability Groups Changed text color for primary server name in the Availability Group Dashboard, which caused the entry to appear empty.
Extended Events Changed text color for data column after selecting View Target Data for the ring_buffer target.
Installer Fixed issue where users might be prompted to update SQL Server Management Studio even if the current release is installed, see Bug in 19.2.56.2 update version detection.
Object Explorer Resolved crash occurring when trying to close Object Explorer while the tree is still expanding.
Reports Updated Server Dashboard report to correctly show the number of schedulers when more than 255 are available, see SSMS 19.2 - Reports - Server dashboard - Processors used by instance - wrong number.
Security Update to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 3.1.5 to address CVE-2024-0056.

Known issues 19.3

Feature Details Workaround
Analysis Services When you connect to Analysis Services with Microsoft Entra MFA, if you add a new role or open properties for a role, the message "the identity of the user being added to the role is not fetched properly" appears. This error is benign and can be ignored. It will be addressed within the Azure infrastructure soon, and no updates to SSMS are required.
Analysis Services After adding a new role, or when opening properties for an existing role, you can't use Search by name or email address to add a user. A user can be added with the Manual Entry option.
Database Designer Selecting the Design option for a view that references a table using spatial data causes SSMS to crash. Use T-SQL to make changes to the view.
Database Mirroring When you launch the Database Mirroring Monitor from the mirrored node, the primary node isn't listed. Use SSMS 18.12.1 if you need to monitor mirroring from the mirrored node.
General SSMS Import settings from SSMS 17 option not available. Settings can be imported from SSMS 18.
Link feature for Azure SQL Managed Instance After you remove an existing mirroring endpoint certificate on SQL Server, link creation through the wizard might fail due to unestablished trust between SQL Server and Azure SQL Managed Instance, even though all checks are successful. Use PowerShell command Get-AzSqlInstanceServerTrustCertificate to check whether SQL Server mirroring endpoint certificate named "<SQL_Server_Instance_Name>" exists in the Azure SQL Managed Instance. If so, use PowerShell command Remove-AzSqlInstanceServerTrustCertificate to remove it before a new link creation attempt.
Linked servers Creating a linked server to Azure SQL Database with SQL Server selected as Server type connects to the master database. To create a linked server to Azure SQL Database, select Other data source for the Server type, and select Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server or Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server as the Provider. Enter logical server name in the Data source field, and enter database name in the Catalog field.
PolyBase PolyBase node isn't visible in Object Explorer when connecting to SQL 2022. Use SSMS 18.12.1.
Profiler The Profiler menu isn't localized. No current alternative.
Replication If Azure SQL Managed Instance is the publisher and SSMS is running on a machine, which isn't in the same virtual network as the publisher, you aren't able to insert a tracer token via Replication Monitor. To insert tracer tokens, use Replication Monitor in SSMS on a machine that is in the same virtual network as the Azure SQL Managed Instance publisher.
Stretch DB Removed Stretch DB Wizard. Use T-SQL to configure Stretch DB or use SSMS 18.9.1 or earlier to use the Stretch DB Wizard.

18.12.1

Download SSMS 18.12.1

  • Release number: 18.12.1
  • Build number: 15.0.18424.0
  • Release date: June 21, 2022

Available languages:

What's new in 18.12.1

New Item Details
Azure Data Studio installation integration Installation of SSMS installs Azure Data Studio 1.37.

Bug fixes in 18.12.1

New Item Details
Always Encrypted Fixed issue with Column Master Key creation generating an exception when using Azure Key Vault as the key store.
Data Classification Fixed issue with "Couldn't load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Information.Protection', Version=1.10.98.0" after upgrading to SSMS 18.10 or higher. See Latest SSMS 18.11.1 breaks the Data Classification. Get missing assembly error after updating.
SSMS General Resolved error related to dacpac deployment using the Deploy Data-tier application option in Azure SQL DB with MFA.

17.9.1

Download SSMS 17.9.1

  • Release number: 17.9.1
  • Build number: 14.0.17289.0
  • Release date: November 21, 2018

Available languages:

What's new in 17.9.1

SQL Server utility is no longer available in versions 17.x and newer.

Bug fixes in 17.9.1

  • Fixed an issue where users could experience their connection being closed and reopened with each query invocation when using "Azure Active Directory - Universal with MFA support" authentication with the SQL query editor. Side effects of the connection closing included global temporary tables being dropped unexpectedly and sometimes a new session ID (SPID) given to the connection.
  • Fixed a long outstanding issue where a restore plan would fail to find a restore plan or generate an inefficient one under certain conditions.
  • Fixed issue in the "Import Data-tier Application" wizard, which could result in an error when connected to an Azure SQL Database.

Note

Non-English localized releases of SSMS 17.x require the KB 2862966 security update package if installed on: Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Uninstall and reinstall SSMS 17.x

If your SSMS installation is having problems, and a standard uninstall and reinstall doesn't resolve them, you can first try repairing the Visual Studio 2015 IsoShell. If repairing the Visual Studio 2015 IsoShell doesn't resolve the problem, the following steps have been found to fix many random issues:

  1. Uninstall SSMS the same way you uninstall any application (using Add or remove programs).

  2. Uninstall Visual Studio 2015 IsoShell from an elevated cmd prompt:

    PUSHD "C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\FE948F0DAB52EB8CB5A740A77D8934B9E1A8E301\redist"
vs_isoshell.exe /Uninstall /Force /PromptRestart

  3. Uninstall Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable the same way you uninstall any application. Uninstall both x86 and x64 if they're on your computer.

  4. Reinstall Visual Studio 2015 IsoShell from an elevated cmd prompt:

    PUSHD "C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\FE948F0DAB52EB8CB5A740A77D8934B9E1A8E301\redist"
vs_isoshell.exe /PromptRestart

  5. Reinstall SSMS.

  6. Upgrade to the latest version of the Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable if you're not currently up to date.

16.5.3

Download SSMS 16.5.3

  • Release number: 16.5.3
  • Build number: 13.0.16106.4
  • Release date: January 30, 2017

Available languages:

Bug fixes in 16.5.3

  • Fixed issue introduced in SSMS 16.5.2, which was causing the expansion of the 'Table' node when the table had more than one sparse column.

  • Users can deploy SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) packages containing OData Connection Manager, which connects to a Microsoft Dynamics AX/CRM Online resource to the SSIS catalog. For more information, For details, see OData Connection Manager.

  • Configuring Always Encrypted on an existing table fails with errors on unrelated objects.

  • Configuring Always Encrypted for an existing database with multiple schemas doesn't work.

  • The Always Encrypted, Encrypted Column wizard fails due to the database containing views that reference system views.

  • When you encrypt with Always Encrypted, errors from refreshing modules after encryption are incorrectly handled.

  • Open recent menu doesn't show recently saved files.

  • SSMS is slow when right-clicking an index for a table (over a remote (Internet) connection).

  • Fixed an issue with the SQL Designer scrollbar.

  • Context menu for tables momentarily stops responding.

  • SSMS occasionally throws exceptions in Activity Monitor and crashes.

  • SSMS crashes with the error: "The process was terminated due to an internal error in the .NET Runtime at IP 71AF8579 (71AE0000) with exit code 80131506."

More downloads

For a list of all SQL Server Management Studio downloads, search the Microsoft Download Center.

For the latest release of SQL Server Management Studio, see Install SQL Server Management Studio.

Related content