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. Here are some guides on how to download and install Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Express Edition and Microsoft Management Studio on Windows Server, how to install MSSQL Server 2019 Developer Edition, and SQL Server Management Studio on Windows.
You can use SSMS to deploy, monitor, and upgrade the data-tier components used by your applications, and build queries and scripts.
Note: SSMS 18.9.1 is the latest general availability (GA) version as of the time of writing this article. If you have a previous GA version of SSMS 18 installed, installing SSMS 18.9.1 upgrades it to 18.9.1. The SSMS 18.x installation doesn’t upgrade or replace SSMS versions 17.x or earlier. SSMS 18.x installs side by side with previous versions, so both versions are available for use. However, if you have a preview version of SSMS 18.x installed, you must uninstall it before installing SSMS 18.9.1.
You can download SSMS from the following link. See this article for the differences between various Editions of MsSQL Server.
Manually Managing SSMS Updates
If you do not have any patch management system in your environment and you have not enabled SSMS to check for updates automatically, you may want to follow the steps below.
Launch the SSMS and click on Tools from the menu, and finally check on check for updates as shown below.
Click on Update as shown below. Also, ensure you check on “Automatically check for updates for SQL Server Management Studio” as shown below. In this way, you will be notified of future updates.
Next, you will be redirected to the following webpage, click on download SSMS as shown below.
You will now be redirect to the following page where you can download SSMS to your device. Click on doanload SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 18.9.1 as shown below.
Now that the SSMS-Setup-ENU file has been downloaded, double click to launch it.
Just click on Run in the next window to start the installation.
Accept the User Account Control. You may want to read more about this from this link.
This will open up the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) install window. By clicking yon install, you agree to the license terms as shown below.
This will continue with the installation, you can sit back and watch the as the installation progresses.
When the installation is complete is complete, please click on close as shown below.
Now you can launch SSMS by following the highlighted steps in the screenshot below.
As you can see below, we have successfully updates the SSMS.
I hope you found this blog post helpful. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment session.
Seems the ssms upgrade process down loading new setup files (whole)and overriding the existing one..this means it’s uninstalling the old version and installing new ssms software.. am I correct?
If I understood you correctly, this has to do with the version of SSMS you are running.
Thank you @Christian
I wish there could be an option on the SQL server studio to update to latest version automatically.
I know right! But at any point in time you start SQL Server Management Studio it automatically checks for updates, and when there are updates, you will receive a notification to have it downloaded and installed. Most times, we are impatient and we just run it manually. Why not use a solution like WSUS?
What are the files to retain the customizations and configurations from the prior version. In my experience, after upgrading, I lose all the custom key strokes, server lists, etc.How can these be retained?
SSMS 18.9.1 is the latest general availability (GA) version as of the time of writing this article. If you have a previous GA version of SSMS 18 installed, installing SSMS 18.9.1 upgrades it to 18.9.1. The SSMS 18.x installation doesn’t upgrade or replace SSMS versions 17.x or earlier. SSMS 18.x installs side by side with previous versions, so both versions are available for use. However, if you have a preview version of SSMS 18.x installed, you must uninstall it before installing SSMS 18.9.1.