Cannot show Object Explorer in SQL Server Management Studio 2008

_{Monday, March 15, 2010 1:16 AM | 3 votes}

Some dockable windows were acting funny in my SQL Server Management Studio application. My coworker moved some of the dockable windows around and now my Object Explorer doesn't show at all.

Going to View --> Object Explorer (F8) doesn't do anything.

Using F8 key shortcut doesn't do anything.

I've since restarted the application and the machine. Whatever I do I can't seem to bring up Object Explorer window anymore.

My guess is the window is somewhere off screen and because it's a tool/dockable window I can't do something like Ctrl+Space --> Move.

Am I stuck with having to re-install SSMS?

I'm on Win7 (with latest updates), using SSMS version 10.0.2531.0.

_{Monday, March 15, 2010 1:37 PM ✅Answered | 29 votes}

Try, Reset the window as Tibor K. Suggested in another post

Window --> Reset Layout

_{Monday, March 15, 2010 1:50 AM}

Try hitting keyboard shortcut F8 or go to View-->>object explorer.

If you still can not see it then 

Try clearing your settings file. You
can first close your SSMS, copy the files in the folder
C:\Users\yourusername>\Documents\SQL Server Management Studio\Settings to the
other place and then remove all the files in this folder. Then re-open your management studio.

_{Monday, March 15, 2010 1:51 AM}

There is one more thing

1. In SSMS, click Tools->Customize;
2. Select Commands tab,click Rearrange Commands...
3. Select View in Menu Bar list
4. If Object Explorer is not there, click the Add... button, select View,
   choose Object Explorer in the Commands list and click OK

_{Monday, March 15, 2010 3:56 AM}

Thanks for the reply Chirag,

I didn't find the settings files as you suggested on my local file system, but I did find the settings file on my network (\users\username>\SQL Server Management Studio\Settings). I deleted the settings files as you suggested, and I got the following message when re-running SSMS:

"The automatically saved settings file '\users\username>\SQL Server Management Studio\Settings\CurrentSettings-2010-01-29.vssettings' cannot be found. You can chnage this file on the 'Import and Export Settings' Tools Options page. The IDE will use your most recent settings for this session."

I tried showing the Object Explorer --no luck. The Object Explorer still doesn't show, regardless if I click the 'Object Explorer' menu option in View menu or using the F8 shortcut.

However suggestion made me think: Maybe I should look in the registry. Where would the "most recent settings" come from if not from file?

_{Monday, March 15, 2010 4:05 AM}

I can see an 'Object Explorer' option in my View menu. That's not the issue. I would agree that maybe fuzzing with the 'Object Explorer' option might cause something to reset. So it wouldn't hurt to try as you suggested.

I didn't have a 'View' option off of the 'Menu Bar' list. Maybe different SSMS versions? So what I did instead was add the 'Object Explorer' option to the 'File' menu. Why not, right? I used the new 'Object Explorer' option off of File menu, but and again, no luck.

Thanks again for the help.

_{Tuesday, February 8, 2011 9:38 PM}

I was having the same problem and the 'Window --> Reset Layout' option worked.

Thanks Chirag

_{Wednesday, February 9, 2011 2:23 PM}

I just had this as well.

Window --> Rest Layout worked for me.

lf

_{Wednesday, February 16, 2011 11:44 AM}

Got mine working as well. Many thanks guys.

_{Monday, March 21, 2011 8:39 AM}

Same problem, Window --> Reset Layout worked as expected. Best and easy solution. thanks

_{Thursday, March 24, 2011 3:20 PM}

Thks, It worked fine!!!Edú

_{Friday, April 15, 2011 10:14 PM}

Did you ever get this resolved?  I am experiencing the same issue.  All the posted suggestions were unsuccessful.,

_{Wednesday, June 8, 2011 7:12 AM | 1 vote}

Try, Reset the window as Tibor K. Suggested in another post

Window --> Reset Layout

Thanks
If you think my suggestion is useful, please rate it as helpful.

If it has helped you to resolve the problem, please Mark it as Answer.

Varinder Sandhu www.varindersandhu.in

_{Friday, December 30, 2011 7:55 AM}

Check out this link for more details to fix this problem along with screenshots. Cannot open object explorer in SSMS

_{Tuesday, January 10, 2012 10:35 PM}

I had teh same thing ahppening in SQL 2008 MGMT Studio.  Window --> Reset Layout worked like a charm.

Thanks so much!!

_{Friday, March 9, 2012 2:28 PM}

I hope it's not redundant, but I feel a strong need to say: THANK YOU, THANK YOU THANK YOU!

I was really stuck with this one, and the solution worked like a charm.

_{Friday, May 25, 2012 11:06 AM}

Awesome.. I was breaking my head for more than 1 hour now.. and just found this trick which worked like a charm :)

Thanks a lot.

Regards, Vinodh

_{Friday, January 4, 2013 9:01 PM}

Thanks, this was driving me crazy!!!

_{Tuesday, August 13, 2013 1:10 PM}

Thanks Chirag... was driving me crazy!!!

_{Tuesday, April 28, 2015 10:14 AM}

This worked well for me too and the Object Explorer showed up perfectly as needed. However, when I close the Management studio and reopen, again it is gone and the Object Explorer simply shows as a small window instead of a dockable window. When I right click on this window, the dockable option is already checked. If select Floating and again Dockable, nothing changes. Double clicking on the window also does not work. Hence every time I open Management studio, I have to do Window --> Reset layout.

Is there a way to save this layout so I don't need to repeat this step each time? I tried Save all under File Menu but that does not help.

_{Wednesday, July 8, 2015 7:44 AM}

Thanks a lot Guys...It's working for me as well.

_{Monday, October 12, 2015 12:04 PM | 1 vote}

For some reason Window -> Reset Layout did not work.  However clicking Window -> Dock did.

_{Thursday, December 17, 2015 12:42 PM}

HA!!  Thanks!!  All the tricks above did not work for me.  Window -> Dock worked like a charm!!

Thank you!!!

_{Thursday, March 2, 2017 8:48 AM}

Try, Reset the window as Tibor K. Suggested in another post

Window --> Reset Layout

Thank You So Much ;)

_{Tuesday, March 14, 2017 9:39 AM}

Thanks Tom

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