Brian Knight, SQL Server MVP

Speeding up the VS/SQL User Interface Load Time

One of the frustrating things about the new Visual Studio interface is the load speed. This applies to SQL Server 2005 as well. I have a very new computer which is quite speedy and the splash screen still takes 5-10 seconds to load. On my old machine, this is more like 10-15 seconds while the splash screen is loaded before SQL Server Management Studio would show the login dialog box. A remedy I stumbled across was to add the -nosplash switch at the end of the executables call in the shortcut. After killing the splash screen from displaying, my load time on my good machine was down to 1-2 seconds before being prompted for a login screen. I come in an out of tools so much, that this is quite useful.

To do this, right-click on the shortcut in the start menu for your tool like Business Intelligence Development Studio or SQL Management Studio and click Properties. In the target text box change the shortcut to point to the following for SQL Management Studio:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Binn\VSShell\Common7\IDE\SqlWb.exe" -nosplash

For Business Intellgience Managment Studio, the same logic applies:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" -nosplash

Also, this works for the Visual Studio environment in general. I personally hop in and out of these tools all day long and this solved a lot of frustration.