How to Download and Install SSMS

In this article, I am going to discuss How to Download and Install SSMS i.e. SQL Server Management Studio. Please read our previous article where we discussed How to Download and Install SQL Server Developer Edition.

How to Download SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)?

Open any web browser and type SSMS SQL Server and then you will see that the first link will be Download SQL Server Management Studio from Microsoft. So, click on the link as shown in the below image.

Once you click on the link, it will open the following Download SSMS page. Here, you can see we’ve got the latest version. Now, the latest version keeps updating every two months or so. So, it may be a completely different version to the one that you’ve seen here. However, it doesn’t matter. They’re all basically the same at the intermediate level in terms of styling, in terms of other things. So, click on the Free Download for SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 18.12.1 button as shown in the below image.

You can see that it will start downloading the EXE file which is something between 600 to 700 MB as shown in the below image.

Here, they are going to be two programs that are going to be installed, SSMS and Azure Data Studio. Beginning with SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 18.7, Azure Data Studio is automatically installed alongside SSMS. Users of SQL Server Management Studio are now able to benefit from the innovations and features in Azure Data Studio. Azure Data Studio is a cross-platform and open-source desktop tool for your environments, whether in the cloud, on-premises, or hybrid.

However, if you are facing any problems downloading the latest version, or if you want to download the older version of SSMS, then you can do this by scrolling down the page and you will see the link to download the older version as shown in the below image.

How to Install SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio)?

Once the download is completed, click on the EXE file which will ask “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device”? Click yes. Once you click Yes, it will open the following Install window. Here, if you want to change the directory, you can change it, and then you need to click on the Install button as shown in the below image.

Once you click on the Install button, it will start downloading the SQL Server Management Studio and you can also check the download progress as shown in the below image.

It will take some time to install SSMS. Once the installation is completed, you will get the following message.

Click on the Restart button in order to complete the setup. Once you restart then type SSMS in the search bar and click on the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 18 option as shown in the below image.

Once you click on the SSMS app, it will open the following Connect to Server window.

Now, you need to identify to which instance are you connecting? So, if you’re connecting to your default instance, then you will either be using probably localhost or just a dot. Otherwise, you could click on Browse for more connections and then find a connection or you might be given a server name. So, let us click on the Browse for more connections as shown in the below image.

Once you click on the Browse for more connections, it will open the following Browse for Servers popup. Here, you need to select the Database Engine and then select the SQL Server Instance to which you want to connect. In my case, I want to connect to SQLServerDev and then click on the OK button as shown in the below image.

Once you click on the OK button, then it will come back to the Connect to Server window and if you notice, the Server Name is populated. And then we just need to click on the Connect button as shown in the below image.

Once you click on the Connect button, it will connect to SQL Server Database and you will get the following SQL Server Management window where you can do all types of Operations.

What is SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)?

According to Microsoft, SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is an integrated environment for managing any SQL infrastructure, from SQL Server to Azure SQL Database. SSMS provides tools to configure, monitor, and administer instances of SQL Server and databases. Use SSMS to deploy, monitor, and upgrade the data-tier components used by your applications, and build queries and scripts. Use SSMS to query, design, and manage your databases and data warehouses, wherever they are – on your local computer, or in the cloud.

In the next article, I will show you How to Download and Restore the AdventureWorks Database in SQL Server. The AdventureWorks database is the database that we are going to work on throughout this course. In this article, I try to explain How to Download and Install SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and I hope you enjoy this How to Download and Install SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) article.