Over time, SQL Server Management Studio’s Server Dropdown box gets cluttered with many servers.  Quite often some of the servers no longer exist.  However, SQL Studio does not give the user an option for clearing this list.  I found this to be very frustrating.  The instructions below show how this can be done.

I tested these instructions with SQL Studion 2008 running on Windows XP and Windows 7.

SQL Server 2008 running on Windows XP:

  1. Close SQL Studio if it is open
  2. Go to C:\Documents and Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Shell
  3. Delete the file SqlStudio.bin
    The file will be recreated automatically when SQL Studio starts.

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SQL Server 2008 running on Windows 7:

  1. Close SQL Studio if it is open
  2. Go to C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools
  3. Delete the file SqlStudio.bin
    The file will be recreated automatically when SQL Studio starts.

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Special thanks to Dave Pinal at http://www.SQLAuthority.com for providing this information.