SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 21 Preview 2 released

Highlights

SSMS 21 Preview 2 was released yesterday, December 10th!  Preview 2 can be downloaded from  https://aka.ms/ssms/21/preview/vs_ssms.exe

What’s in Preview 2

• Added support for multi-tenant scenario in authentication control 
• Completed dark theme support for SQL results tabs and results grid header 
• Initial dark theme support for Query Store 
• Removal of several VS specific menu items and settings 
• Fixed Object Explorer filtering  
• Added support for importing and exporting User Settings with VS settings 
• Assorted fixes in query editor, new Azure UI dialogs, dark theme, accessibility 
• AE improvements  
• All work items that went in for Preview 2 can be found here.

SSMS Usage

As of today (December 11th) SSMS has over 9M MAU for the last 28 days!

SSMS usage dashboard with more information on the breakdown of SSMS versions and SQL Server versions users are using. 

21 Preview 1 usage: Four weeks after the SSMS 21 Preview 1 was released, there are 2,512 unique users using Preview 1 over the last 7 days. 

21 Preview 2 usage: Preview 2 was released yesterday (Dec 10th) and has 301 unique users as of today (Dec 11th). 

While these preview usage numbers look small compared to the 9M MAU, historically SSMS has low adoption numbers of previews, as many users are only allowed to install GA tools on their work machines. 

Important Upcoming Dates 

Preview 3 SSMS Code Complete	Wednesday, January 8, 2025
Preview 3 SSMS Testing Deadline	Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Preview 3 Release	Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Upcoming Work

With the holidays and vacations coming up, the Preview 3 sprint code complete is coming up quickly. Here’s what’s coming next in Preview 3 and on:

• Vector support in SQL Parser and SMO
• Adding NPS in SSMS 21 
• Fix projects and files templates, solution explorer integration
• Consolidate SSMS settings with .vssettings 
• Dark theme support for Show plan
• Protocol (URI) Handler support for SSMS 
• ARM Support (running x64 SSMS on ARM)
• APIScan bugs
• Fundamentals workstream starting in January
  • Streamline + containerize PR Tests
  • Add automated UI tests
  • Improve unit test coverage
  • Modernize and simplify local dev loop
  • Pipeline improvements to reduce steps currently done manually
• All planned work items for Preview 3 can be found here.

Internal Testing

To test internal SSMS builds, install SSMS from aka.ms/ssms-internal-testing. Updates will be available at 4am every day.  For any bugs, please create a bug using this template and the SSMS team will triage it!