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My school is using SQL Server 2008. Last time I used it I only installed (at home) SQL Server Management Studio 2008 part, and used VPN to connect to school's server.

Now I want to install SQL Server Management Studio again, but this time the 2012 version is available.

Will SQL Server Management Studio 2012 work on the school's SQL Server 2008? Or do I need the 2008 version?

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Basically backward compatible but you may come across the odd issue such as this one regarding treatment of numbered stored procedures. – Martin Smith Nov 28 '12 at 8:40

migrated from stackoverflow.com Nov 28 '12 at 5:35

2 Answers

up vote 10 down vote

SSMS2012 is backwards compatible:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqltools/thread/0151c2e8-2281-4a78-86b0-20cc1bfd57ac

Edit Giving out Aaron's link instead of the old one! Thanks Aaron.

microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35579

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I would probably opt to download just 900MB of Management Studio (now free) than the entire Eval edition (4GB) - especially since the latter will expire and will also likely lead to an inadvertent engine install as well. microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35579 – Aaron Bertrand Nov 28 '12 at 14:45
(SQL Server 2012 SP1 marks the first time the free version of Management Studio wasn't limited in feature set. Previously you had to have a valid license to have a full SSMS install, and no, installing SSMS from an eval image is not a perpetual license and I strongly recommend that you not imply that it is.) – Aaron Bertrand Nov 28 '12 at 14:47
Thanks Aaron, I'm updating my links to reference yours! – Ali Razeghi Nov 28 '12 at 19:49
up vote 4 down vote

No problem, I have SMS 2012 installed connecting to both SQL 2008 and 2005 servers with no issues.

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