SQL Server: SSMS – Hung Symptoms – Mouse-clicks Don’t Register Due To Hidden Modal Window Behind SSMS

I am not sure if run into this but I do often enough on my SSMS 17.9.1 version - suddenly, the SSMS window will not register any mouse-clicks although it will seemingly look fine. The reason is because there is a Modal Window somewhere hidden. Sometimes, ALT-TAB followed by ESC will do the trick but not …

SQL Server: Run A Very Large Script By Splitting It Into Pieces Using PowerShell

Everyday is an interesting day in the life of a DBA. Today, I received a request to run in a HUGE script. This script had 125k INSERT statements each in a separate line. Just opening the script was an issue, leave alone running it into a database. You get this error in SSMS just trying …

SQL Server – Simple Tip On Altering SQL Server Tables With Data – Avoid “Saving changes not permitted”

This is a very simple yet handy tip that most SQL Server users are not aware of. Can't alter tables with data?! If you use SQL Server, you must have seen this dialog when you try to alter a table in SSMS (like adding a new column to an existing table containing data). What does …

SQL Server: SSMS Says “Lock request time out period exceeded.” – Identify Blocking Source Quickly

Time-tested approach Although I explain the process for table expansion, the troubleshooting steps to find any blocking session is to run sp_who2 and look at the BlkBy column to get the session id that is blocking a session (assuming you can identify sessions from the information in the other columns) and examine the blocking session. Then …

SQL Server – Login failed for user ‘[username]’ – How to troubleshoot?

You try to login to SQL Server and you get a really nasty message: The key data in the error message At first glance, it appears to be utterly useless. The only useful message seems to be “Login failed for user 'myuser'.” but what we really need to know is “why?”. That information is somewhat …