If you choose the Save option the SSMS-Setup-ENU.exe setup program will be saved to your Downloads folder. You can get SSMS for SQL Server 2016 at Download SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or you can begin the SSMS 2016 download using the installation link for SSMS on the SQL Server 2016 Installation Center in Figure 1.įigure 1 – The link to install SQL Server Management StudioĬlicking the Install SQL Server Management Tools link opens up the Download SQL Server Management Studio page that you can see in Figure 2.įigure 2 – The SQL Server Management Studio Download PageĬlicking the Download SQL Server Management Studio July 2016 link will prompt you to Run or Save the SSMS-Setup-ENU.exe program that you can see in Figure 2. To install SSMS 2016 you first need to download it. Microsoft states that there is no specific restrictions for using SSMS 2016 with SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005 but all of the features may not work properly. The new SSMS 2016 is able to manage multiple different SQL Server releases. For a complete list of all of the features in SSMS 2016 you can check out Features in SQL Server Management Studio Managing Multiple SQL Server Instances with SSMS 2016 There’s also a new activity monitor with filtering and automatic refresh. SSMS 2016 also includes a new SQL PowerShell module and new cmdlets that work with Always Encrypted, SQL Agent, and SQL Error Logs. It includes a wizard for the new Always Encrypted feature and a new quick launch toolbar to quickly find different menu items. First, SSMS 2016 is now based on the Visual Studio 2015 Isolated Shell.

SSMS has a number of core changes compared to earlier versions of SSMS. Separating the SSMS installation from the main SQL Server Installation Center makes it easier to install SSMS on a separate systems. In addition, a best practice for managing SQL Server is to run SSMS from a networked workstation rather than running SSMS directly on the SQL Server system itself. First, this allows Microsoft to update SSMS more frequently than they were able to in the past when it was bundled in with the main release.

There a number of reasons Microsoft has made this change. Instead you need to install SSMS separately.

Now SSMS is not installed as a part of the main SQL Server installation process. That is no longer the case with SQL Server 2016. In previous releases SSMS was installed as a part of the SQL Server installation itself from the SQL Server Installation Center. With the SQL Server 2016 release Microsoft has changed the way that they are delivering SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

2014 sql management studio install