# SQL Server Management Studio

Create the course's sample databases in SSMS, find your way around Object Explorer, and run your first queries.

Novice · Database · T-SQL · Updated November 3, 2026

## After this lesson you can

- Create a sample database in SSMS by running a script or restoring a backup
- Browse a database's tables in Object Explorer and run a query against it

## Key takeaways

- SQL Server stores the data; SSMS stores nothing itself. It's the window where you look at the data and send SQL to the server.
- Running a `.sql` script sends every statement in it to the server. Running `Northwind.sql` or `BooksPlus.sql` again recreates that database with its original data.
- A backup (`.bak`) is a whole database in one file, and SQL Server restores it only from a folder it can read, such as its `Backup` folder.
- In Object Explorer, expand a database's Tables folder to see its tables and columns, and use Select Top 1000 Rows to see a table's data.
- A new query window runs against `master` until you pick a database in the toolbar drop-down or add `USE Northwind;`. F5 runs the window, or just the lines you select.

**SQL Server** is the database engine you installed during setup. It runs in the background and stores your data. **SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)** is the app you use to look at that data and to send SQL to the server. SSMS doesn't store anything itself; it's a window onto the server.

In this lesson you'll create the three sample databases the course uses, and run your first queries against them.

## Connect

Open **SQL Server Management Studio 22** and connect to your server, as you did in setup:

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Server name | `localhost` |
| Authentication | Windows Authentication |
| Trust server certificate | Checked |

**Object Explorer**, on the left, shows your server as a tree. Expand **Databases**. On a new server there are no databases of your own yet, only a **System Databases** folder that SQL Server uses itself.

![SSMS with Object Explorer on the left, showing localhost and its Databases folder](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/TODO)

## Get the sample database scripts

Open this lesson's **Exercise code** link to go to the course's sample databases on GitHub. Click **Code**, then **Download ZIP**, and unzip it into your `bootcamp` folder.

| Database | What it holds |
|---|---|
| **Northwind** | A small food-trading company: customers, orders, products, suppliers and employees |
| **BooksPlus** | A chain of bookstores: books, authors, publishers, stores, customers and orders |
| **AdventureWorksLT** | A bicycle company: products, categories, customers and sales orders |

A **script** is a text file of SQL, with a `.sql` extension. Running a script sends every statement in it to the server, one after another.

## Create Northwind and BooksPlus

1. In SSMS, choose **File > Open > File...** (or press **Ctrl+O**), and open `Northwind.sql` from the folder you unzipped.
2. The script opens in a query window. Press **F5** (or click **Execute**).
3. The **Messages** tab below fills with lines as the script runs. When it finishes, it ends with **Completion time**.
4. In Object Explorer, right-click **Databases** and choose **Refresh**. **Northwind** appears.

Do the same with `BooksPlus.sql`.

Running either script again deletes that database and creates it fresh, with its original data. If you ever change data by mistake, that's your undo button.

## Restore AdventureWorksLT

AdventureWorksLT comes as a **backup**: a single file holding a whole database. Download it from Microsoft:

```text
https://github.com/Microsoft/sql-server-samples/releases/download/adventureworks/AdventureWorksLT2022.bak
```

SQL Server can only read backups from folders it has permission for, so:

1. In File Explorer, copy `AdventureWorksLT2022.bak` into `C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL17.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Backup`. Click **Continue** when Windows asks for permission.
2. In SSMS, right-click **Databases** and choose **Restore Database...**.
3. Under **Source**, choose **Device**, click the **...** button, then **Add**. Pick `AdventureWorksLT2022.bak` and click **OK**, then **OK** again.
4. Click **OK** to restore. When it says the restore was successful, refresh **Databases**: **AdventureWorksLT2022** is there.

## Look around a database

Expand **Northwind**, then **Tables**. Each table has a name that starts with `dbo.`, such as `dbo.Customers`; `dbo` is the table's **schema**, a group the table belongs to.

- Expand a table, then its **Columns** folder, to see each column and its type.
- Right-click `dbo.Customers` and choose **Select Top 1000 Rows**. SSMS writes a query for you, runs it, and shows the rows in a grid.

![The results grid showing rows from the Customers table](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/TODO)

Spend a few minutes looking through the tables. As a developer who works with data, you need to know what's stored, and how the tables relate to each other, before you can build anything useful with it.

## Run your own query

1. Click **New Query** on the toolbar. A blank query window opens.
2. Choose which database it runs against: pick **Northwind** in the database drop-down on the toolbar (it says **master** at first).
3. Type a query, and press **F5**:

```sql
SELECT CompanyName, City, Country
FROM Customers;
```

The **Results** tab shows 91 rows: every customer's company name, city and country. You'll learn exactly how this query works in the next chapter.

To run only part of a window, select those lines first, then press **F5**: SSMS runs just the selection.

## Common problems

| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| `Invalid object name 'Customers'` | The query ran against the wrong database. Choose **Northwind** in the toolbar's drop-down, or add `USE Northwind;` above the query. |
| A new database doesn't show in Object Explorer | Right-click **Databases** and choose **Refresh**. |
| The restore says it can't open the backup file, or access is denied | The `.bak` file isn't in SQL Server's `Backup` folder. Copy it there and try again. |
| `Cannot drop database because it is currently in use` | Another window is using that database. Close the other query windows, or switch their drop-down to **master**, then run the script again. |

## Check yourself

2 questions to try on the lesson page.

## So what

Northwind and BooksPlus are the data you'll query, change and build apps on for the rest of the course. AdventureWorksLT is a bigger database to explore on your own, and SSMS is where you'll try every query before it goes into your C# code.

## Key terms

- SQL Server
- SQL Server Management Studio
- Script
- Backup and Restore
- dbo Schema

## Cheat sheets

- [SQL Server Management Studio](https://www.ask-codey.com/cheat-sheets/using-sql-server-sql-server-management-studio-cheat-sheet)

Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/using-sql-server-sql-server-management-studio