Access Violation Exception when starting SSMS 2012

  • I recently installed SSMS 2012 on my local PC. Every time I start it, I get an error: "SQL Server Management Studio has stopped working". This error occurs before the connection dialog comes up, and SSMS closes afterwards.

    When I debug the error message in VS 2015, I get the following: "An unhandled exception of type 'System.AccessViolationException' occurred in ConnectionDlg.dll. Additional information: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt."

    I've done the following to try to fix the error:

    - Uninstall/reinstall

    - Repair the .Net framework using the Microsoft .NET Framework Repair Tool. It only detected that .Net 4.6.1 could be repaired.

    - Cleaned my registry using CCleaner Free.

    I'm at a loss as to what to try next. Any ideas as to what the issue could be and how to fix it? Thank you!

    Amy

  • does the issue go away if you run it in administrator mode instead? Right click...run as administrator?

    I've seen that same error before in places where permissions were locked down pretty tight.

    Lowell


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  • I get the same error if I run as administrator.

  • Another thing to try as it could be your profile.

    If you can, I would create a new local account, login and do a Run As with SSMS using that account. If it works then it's probably your profile.

    Sue

  • Thanks for the suggestion. I created a new local profile and tried to start SSMS 2012, but it erred with the same error. So I guess it's not my profile.

  • Dang well then deleting the SqlStudio.bin isn't likely to do any good either.

    One other thing I can think of to get an idea of what's going on is to open SSMS with the -log option. It creates a large XML file pretty quickly but it sounds like you're crashing quickly anyway.

    You can get warnings in there to ignore (things like PkgDef encountered data collision in section blah) but you can see the timestamps in the XML file, run down to the last thing and work backwards. That might give you an idea, more info on the error. It tells you xyz successfully loaded, xyz enabled etc

    You would just execute it from the command line:

    X:\YourPathTo\ssms.exe -Log "C:\Temp\SSMS.log"

    or whatever path and filename you want to use for the log file.

    Sue

  • Thanks again for the suggestion. This is weird. I don't see anything that looks like an error or a failure in the log file. I see the packagecollision stuff you mentioned, but after that, nothing, and nothing really before that either. Any further thoughts?

  • Have you applied the latest service packs, CUs? I thought there was in issue like this with or something like it with Express and it looks like that's what you have. SP1 maybe was the fix but I can't remember for sure. I'd give the updates a shot if you haven't yet.

    Sue

  • I installed SSMS 2012 version 11.0.6020.0, which is supposed to be SP3. I got it from https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt238488.aspx, ("Previous SQL Server Management Studio Releases"). It's not supposed to be Express - it certainly doesn't say that on the MS web page. Do you know if there is a different version somewhere available to download? Also, why would that make a difference? I don't even get to the point of connecting to the instance; it dies before that dialog box even comes up. Thanks again!

  • In terms of the database engine, if you installed 2012 you could very well have both 2012 and Express but reading more of the log, I think it just reports that no matter what for the SKU

    But what did you actually install? Just SSMS?

    There are CU for SQL Server 2012 SP3 listed so you could be behind on those. It looks like CU6 is the most recent update for SQL Server 2012 SP3.

    Check this link:

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50733

    Sue

  • I installed just SSMS. I installed it on my PC so that I could connect to our SQL Server 2012 instance which is on a separate server. When I installed SQL Server 2012 on the *server*, it also installed SSMS on the server, and that is working fine. I tried to install SSMS on my PC from the server ISO, but the server ISO is 64-bit and my PC is 32-bit, so no go.

    I checked out the link you provided from my PC, just in case, but it says: There are no SQL Server instances or shared features that can be updated on this computer.

  • amy.holzinger (1/11/2017)


    I installed just SSMS. I installed it on my PC so that I could connect to our SQL Server 2012 instance which is on a separate server. When I installed SQL Server 2012 on the *server*, it also installed SSMS on the server, and that is working fine. I tried to install SSMS on my PC from the server ISO, but the server ISO is 64-bit and my PC is 32-bit, so no go.

    I checked out the link you provided from my PC, just in case, but it says: There are no SQL Server instances or shared features that can be updated on this computer.

    Well, I have no idea what SSMS version you have from where or what. But typically in your scenario, people will install SQL Server Express. Or just install the latest version of SSMS as the installer works on 64 and 32 bit. You can use the current version of SSMS against a 2012 instance.

    The latest version of SSMS is available here:

    https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt238290.aspx

    If you really want SSMS 2012 then you can get the 32 bit Express Edition here:

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43351

    Sue

  • Hi Sue,

    Thanks for all your suggestions. I got the SSMS Express edition from the link you provided, uninstalled what I had, and installed the Express one. No luck. Same error, same place. I'm thinking it's got to be something behind SSMS, that SSMS is depending on. Just don't know what.

    I did initially download and install SSMS 2016, because I thought that the newer versions could access older instances (which you verified that it can). But I got the same error as with 2012 so I uninstalled SSMS 2016 and installed 2012, since I thought maybe I was wrong and the versions needed to match.

    I do have SSMS 2008 R2 installed - more than 1 SSMS can run side by side, correct? I did see some stuff in forums that said that it could.

  • Yes you can run different version side by side - I have three on one PC.

    In terms of the errors you keep getting, at this point it is highly unlikely to be anything with SSMS itself. I would guess either your PC itself or .Net framework issues. No idea which or any suggestions on how to proceed. About all I can suggest at this point is to go through all of your event logs and look for any issues.

    Sue

  • Thanks for taking the time to help me, Sue.

    Amy

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