SSMS takes 10-20 + minutes to open

Question

When I open SSMS, I can l look at see it in Task manager like it is running but it doesn't open for quite some time after that. Sometimes 20 minutes or more.

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H CPU @ 2.20GHz 2.21 GHz
Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.7 GB usable)
Device ID E25A6BDC-123F-41C8-8F88-DEA95A5BF17A
Product ID 00391-90330-00000-AA204
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Edition Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
Version 20H2
Installed on ‎3/‎1/‎2021
OS build 19042.985
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.2020.0

Anyone have a thought?

Answer 1

Hello,

Just a few tips that could solve that:

First:

1. Go to Control Panel -> Internet Options
2. Once there go to "Advanced" tab and near the bottom uncheck the "Check for server certificate revocation" (it has an * because you need to restart the computer)
3. Start SSMS after the reboot.

Second:

1. Edit the hosts file (remember to use the text editor of your choice as administrator) located here %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
2. Add this line to the end: 127.0.0.1 crl.microsoft.com
3. Save and start SSMS.

Third:

1. Open SSMS (after all that time)
2. Go to Tools -> Options and then in "Environment" select "Open empty environment" at the start up.
3. Ok and restart SSMS.

Last:

1. Edit the shortcut that you use to open SSMS
2. Add at the end the /nosplash parameter (it will be something like this: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\XXX\Tools\Binn\VSShell\Common7\IDE\Ssms.exe" /nosplash)
3. Start SSMS.

Hope it helps.

Answer 2

I found MANY possible solutions online to help me speed SSMS 18 load times. For me it was taking 2.5 minutes to load, and right-click context menus in the object explorer would bring up the wait icon, it it may have taken 20-30 seconds for the context menu to appear. SSMS from SQL 2014 was quick and responsive. I TRIED ALL OF THE SOLUTIONS FOUND ONLINE, AND NONE WORKED FOR ME. Using System Internals I set the filter to "ssms.exe", and watched what this program was doing at start up. It was doing fusion logging! Apparently I had turned on fusion logging some time ago and forgot to turn it back off (fuslogvw). It didn't seem to affect everything else nearly as much as it did SSMS 18, which now loads and runs in 10 seconds!

I did not see this as a possible solution from anyone, so I think this POSSIBLE solution is being documented for the first time here.

Answer 3

Here is the solution that worked for me.
Edit file called "host" located in
	%systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\
Append the following line
	127.0.0.1 crl.microsoft.com

NOTE: Depending on you account type, you may have to login as "Administrator" and may have to change the file permission to "Full Control" for the "Users" group.

Answer 4

Hi @TalComoSoy88 ,

You can try below suggestions to resolve this issue.

Please try to go into Internet Explorer: Options/Advance tab. Then scroll to the bottom of the list and uncheck "Check for publisher's certificate revocation". When Microsoft's SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) starts it tries to connect the Certificate Revocation List (CRL) of Microsoft. The underlying .NET components of SSMS are trying to contact the Certificate Revocation List and SSMS is unable to do so. This slows down the overall loading procedure.

The other thing that you can do is to add /nosplash to the shortcut property just to bypass the screen that tells me I've opened the thing I intended to open.

After you opened SSMS, you can change the setting as below screenshot to save the time for SSMS next open.

By the way, did you try to use the latest version of SSMS? You can get SSMS 18.9.1 from here. If you have a previous GA version of SSMS 18 installed, installing SSMS 18.9.1 upgrades it to 18.9.1.

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Answer 5

I have exactly the same problem and have had this problem for years on different machines - Windows 8, 10 and now 11, with various versions of SSMS. This seems to be a general problem - as many others have posted this - see reddit, google, stackoverflow etc.
On this particular machine, everything is freshly installed.
Here are specs:

SELECT @@VERSION
Microsoft SQL Server 2019 (RTM-GDR) (KB4583458) - 15.0.2080.9 (X64)   Nov  6 2020 16:50:01   Copyright (C) 2019 Microsoft Corporation  Developer Edition (64-bit) on Windows 10 Pro 10.0 <X64> (Build 22000: ) -- (The reported Windows 10 Pro is wrong, I am on a Windows 11 Pro)


Device name DESKTOP-ONE
Processor   Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHz   2.50 GHz
Installed RAM   16,0 GB (15,9 GB usable)
Device ID    REDACTED
Product ID  00342-50427-77959-AAOEM
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch   No pen or touch input is available for this display

Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 21H2
Installed on    ‎11-‎04-‎2022
OS build    22000.675
Experience  Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22000.675.0

I have

• unchecked "Check for server certificate revocation
• added /nosplash
• updated the host file
• checked 'Open empty environment'

but none of it works.