Why Intellisense doesn't work in SQL Server Management Studio 2008 R2?

8
votes

I have SQL Server Management Studio 2008 R2.

I have tried these:

  1. Tools->Options->Query Execution->SQL Server->General, make sure “By default, open new queries in SQLCMD mode” is unchecked

  2. Go to Tools >> Options >> Text Editor >> Transact-SQL >> General >> IntelliSense Select Auto List Members and Check Parameter Information.

  3. Restarted, repaired Visual Studio 2010

  4. Installed VS 2010 SP1

  5. Query/Intellisense Enabled selected

But still it doesn't work.

Any clue?

5
sql-serversql-server-2008tsqlintellisensessms
Are you connecting to a SQL Server 2008+ DB when trying to use Intellisense? Even with the new SSMS, Intellisense won't work for DBs in prior versions. – Joe Stefanelli
What does Visual Studio 2010 have to do with SQL Server Management Studio? – Cylindric
Is it completely disabled or is it just not recognizing your stuff? Generally, you'll need to refresh (shift+ctrl+r) or restart SMSS for intellisense to pick up new objects. – canon
@JoeStefanelli: I believe it's even enough if the database compatibility level is set to 2005 (90) or prior. – marc_s
@Cylindric, see this Support KB article. – Sam

5 Answers

7
votes

Apparently when you install VS2010 SP1 it breaks intelliSense of SQL Server 2008 R2. You will need to install either CU or SP1 for SQL Server 2008 R2 mentioned in this Support KB from MSFT.

2
votes

Had this today as well. Following a thread I found elsewhere the solution was to detach all offline databases. Restarted the service and boom! started working.

1
votes

This is a pretty old question, but I ran into the same issue and the fix for it was to do a repair on sql server 2008. The catch was that I had to go into add/remove programs before doing the repair to uninstall "Microsoft SQL Server Compact <Ver> <SP1/2> <Lang>" before the repair because its setup file name is different in the Sql Server installer than the VS installer.

1
votes

Offline databases cause Intellisense to stop working in SSMS 2016 and Sql Server 2016 RTM, possibly earlier versions as well. Verified this by opening a new query window and verifying Intellisense is working. Then took a database Offline and tried Intellisense... it stopped working. Brought the database back Online and Intellisense comes back to life and starts working again.