How to remove “Server name” items from history of SQL Server Management Studio

Question

When trying to connect to a server in Management Studio (specifically 2008), there is a field where you enter the Server name. That field also has a drop-down list where it

Answer 1

In SSMS 2012 there is a documented way to delete the server name from the "Connect to Server" dialog. Now, we can remove the server name by selecting it in the dialog and pressing DELETE.

Answer 2

File SqlStudio.bin actually contains binary serialized data of type "Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UserSettings.SqlStudio".

Using BinaryFormatter class you can write simple .NET application in order to edit file content.

Answer 3

In Windows Server 2008 standard with SQL Express 2008, the "SqlStudio.bin" file lives here:

%UserProfile%\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Shell\

Answer 4

C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Shell

Answer 5

This is the correct way of doing it http://blogs.msdn.com/b/managingsql/archive/2011/07/13/deleting-old-server-names-from-quot-connect-to-server-quot-dialog-in-ssms.aspx

Answer 6

For SQL 2005, delete the file:

C:\Documents and Settings\<USER>\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Shell\mru.dat

For SQL 2008, the file location, format and name changed:

C:\Documents and Settings\<USER>\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Shell\SqlStudio.bin

How to clear the list:

1. Shut down all instances of SSMS
2. Delete/Rename the file
3. Open SSMS

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