

If you have internet access on a machine where SSMS is installed, it will periodically check for a newer version and will notify you that there is one via a “toast” popup in your system tray. The SSMS setup program is typically about 800-900MB in size, so this should not be a huge burden for most people. If you are trying to install SSMS on a machine that does not have internet access (which is pretty common), then you will need to download the SSMS setup program in advance, and make it available on the server where you want to install it. Instead, there is a link that takes you to the Download SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) page where you can download the most current version of the SSMS setup program.

The setup program for SSMS is not included with the rest of product on the SQL Server 2016 DVD or. Finally, it is designed to work with Azure SQL Database. It may also work with SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005, although Microsoft does not officially support that scenario. This new standalone version of SSMS ( which is completely free) is designed to work with SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2016. For the SQL Server 2016 release cycle, Microsoft has separated SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) from the rest of the SQL Server 2016 product.
