Historical article
- Original title: Speeding up the VS/SQL User Interface Load Time
- Author: Brian Knight
- Original publication date: December 16, 2005
- Originally published on: White Knight Technology
- Preservation note: This article preserves a Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 performance tip recovered from the Wayback snapshot.
Archive provenance: White Knight Technology Historical Archive
One frustrating part of the new Visual Studio interface was its load speed, and the same delay affected the SQL Server 2005 tools. Even on a new, fast computer, the splash screen could remain for five to ten seconds. On an older computer, it could remain for ten to fifteen seconds before SQL Server Management Studio displayed its login dialog.
The remedy was to add the -nosplash switch to the executable call in each shortcut. With the splash screen suppressed, the observed delay on the faster computer fell to one or two seconds before the login prompt appeared. That was useful when moving in and out of these tools throughout the day.
To make the change, right-click the Start menu shortcut for a tool such as Business Intelligence Development Studio or SQL Server Management Studio, choose Properties, and change the target.
For SQL Server Management Studio, the historical target was:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Binn\VSShell\Common7\IDE\SqlWb.exe" -nosplash
For the Visual Studio 2005 environment used by Business Intelligence Development Studio, the historical target was:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" -nosplash
The same idea applied to the Visual Studio environment generally. The original author, Brian Knight, used these tools throughout the day and reported that removing the splash screen reduced the frustration of repeatedly opening them.
2026 Update
These executable paths and the -nosplash switch are historical. Current SQL Server Management Studio and Visual Studio installations use different paths, packaging, startup behavior, and possibly different command-line support. Verify the behavior of the exact supported product version before changing shortcuts.