Install SQL Server Management Studio 21 Preview

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

Welcome to SQL Server Management Studio 21 Preview. In this version, it's easy to choose and install only the features you need, using the Visual Studio Installer.

Note

If you need to programmatically install SQL Server Management Studio, see Use command-line parameters.

Want to know more about what else is new in this version? See the release notes.

You can download and install a specific version from the release history page.

Ready to install? This article walks you through it, step-by-step.

Step 1 - Make sure your computer is ready for SQL Server Management Studio 21 Preview

Before you begin installing SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS):

  • Check the system requirements. These requirements help you know whether your computer supports SQL Server Management Studio 21 Preview.

  • Make sure that the user who performs the initial installation has administrator permissions on the machine. For more information, see User permissions and SQL Server Management Studio 21 Preview.

  • Apply the latest Windows updates. These updates ensure that your computer has both the latest security updates and the required system components for SSMS.

  • Restart. Restarting ensures that any pending installs or updates don't hinder your SSMS install.

  • Free up space. Remove unneeded files and applications from your system drive by, for example, running the Disk Cleanup application.

You can install SQL Server Management Studio 21 Preview side-by-side with other versions. For more information, see Install SQL Server Management Studio versions side-by-side.

Step 2 - Determine which version of SQL Server Management Studio 21 to install

Decide which version of SSMS to install. The most common options are:

  • The latest release of SQL Server Management Studio 21 Preview that is hosted on Microsoft servers. To install this version, select the following link. The installer downloads a small bootstrapper to your Downloads folder.

Download SSMS 21 Preview

  • If you already have SQL Server Management Studio 21 installed, you can install another version alongside it.

  • You can download a bootstrapper or installer for a specific version from the Release history page and use it to install another version of SSMS.

Step 3 - Initiate the installation

If you downloaded a bootstrapper file, you can use it to install SSMS. You need administrator permissions. The bootstrapper installs the latest version of the Visual Studio Installer. The installer is a separate program that provides everything you need to both install and customize SSMS.

  1. From your Downloads folder, double-click the bootstrapper named vs_ssms.exe to start the installation.

  2. If you receive a User Account Control notice, choose Yes. The dialog box asks you to acknowledge the Microsoft Privacy Statement and Microsoft Software License Terms. Choose Continue.

The Visual Studio Installer opens. In addition to SQL Server Management Studio, you can also install any product that Visual Studio Installer's Available tab offers.

Step 4 - Customize installation (optional)

After you install the Visual Studio Installer, you can use it to customize your installation SQL Server Management Studio by selecting different options on the tabs of the installer. Here's how.

  • SQL Server Management Studio 21 Preview 1 doesn't have any feature sets, or workloads available to install on the Workloads tab.
  • You can add individual components to your installation from the Individual components tab. Select the components that you want to install.

Step 5 - Install language packs (optional)

By default, the installer program tries to match the language of the operating system when it runs for the first time. To install SSMS in a language of your choosing, choose the Language packs tab from the Visual Studio Installer, and then follow the prompts.

Change the installer language from the command line

Another way that you can change the default language is by running the installer from the command line. For example, you can force the installer to run in English by using the following command:

vs_ssms.exe --locale en-US

The installer remembers this setting when you run it again. The installer supports these language locales: zh-cn, zh-tw, cs-cz, en-us, es-es, fr-fr, de-de, it-it, ja-jp, ko-kr, pl-pl, pt-br, ru-ru, and tr-tr.

Step 6 - Select the installation location (optional)

You can reduce the installation footprint of SSMS on your system drive. For more information, see Select installation locations for SQL Server Management Studio 21 Preview.

You can select a different drive for SQL Server Management Studio or Download cache only when you first install SSMS. If you already installed it and want to change drives, you must uninstall SSMS and then reinstall it.

If SSMS or Visual Studio is already installed on your computer, you can't change the Shared components, tools, and SDKs path. It appears greyed out. This location is shared by all installations of SSMS and Visual Studio.

Step 7 - Sign in to your account (optional)

While you don't have to sign in, there are many advantages to doing so, such as synchronizing your settings across devices. See Sign in or switch user accounts in SQL Server Management Studio 21 Preview.

Support or troubleshooting

Sometimes, things can go wrong. If your SSMS installation fails, see Troubleshoot installation and upgrade issues for SQL Server Management Studio 21 Preview for step-by-step guidance.

You can reference SQL user feedback for other known issues (filter on Tooling under Groups) and to provide feedback to the product team.