Tag: SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) tips, configuration guidance, and troubleshooting, including query options, usability features, connectivity issues, and version-specific behaviour.

  • Open SSMS as a Different Domain User

    When working in corporate SQL Server environments, you will often need to connect using a different Active Directory domain account. Common reasons include: SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) does not allow switching users inside the connection dialog. To connect as another user, you must launch SSMS itself using that account. This post covers the two…

  • Install and Update SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

    SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is the primary management tool for SQL Server and Azure SQL platforms. It is also the official download location and update path for SQL Server Management Studio going forward. In recent releases, SSMS has changed significantly, not in how it looks, but in how it installs, updates, and enforces connection…

  • SSMS Certificate Chain Not Trusted Error (Trust Server Certificate Fix)

    If you’ve recently upgraded SQL Server Management Studio and suddenly can’t connect to SQL Server, you may see an SSL or certificate error during login. This commonly appears after upgrading to newer SSMS versions and is caused by a change in how SSMS handles encryption by default. The good news: this is usually quick to…

  • How to Show Line Numbers in SSMS

    In modern versions of SQL Server Management Studio, line numbers are enabled by default. If you are running SSMS 21 or newer, you will already see line numbers in query windows without changing anything. Older versions of SSMS did not enable them by default, which is why many guides still focus on “turning them on”.…

  • How to Increase Maximum Characters Displayed in SSMS

    By default, SQL Server Management Studio limits the number of characters displayed per column when using Results to Text. The default limit is 256 characters. If a query or system stored procedure returns more than that, the output is silently truncated. You get partial results, which is often worse than getting an error. This post…

  • Disk Usage by Top Tables Report in SQL Server

    The Disk Usage by Top Tables report in SQL Server Management Studio is one of the quickest ways to see where space is being used inside a database. It shows table sizes sorted largest to smallest, along with row counts and index space, making it ideal for fast investigation when a database starts growing unexpectedly.…

  • What the USE Command Does in SQL Server

    The USE command changes the database context for the current session. Every statement in SQL Server runs in the context of a database. When you run USE, you are telling SQL Server which database subsequent statements should execute against until the context changes again or the session ends. That single behaviour explains a lot of…