SQL Server Blog articles

mssql-python 1.8.0: friendlier Row access, Bulk Copy with MSI, and a refreshed ODBC driver

DavidLevy — Fri, 29 May 2026 19:00:59 GMT

We just shipped mssql-python 1.8.0, the official Microsoft SQL Server driver for Python. This release focuses on day-to-day ergonomics, a long-requested authentication option for Bulk Copy, and a refresh of the bundled ODBC driver.

pip install --upgrade mssql-python

Highlights

Row objects now support string-key indexing

Row already supported integer indexing and attribute access. In 1.8.0 you can also index by column name, which is the pattern most users reach for first:

cursor.execute("SELECT id, display_name FROM users WHERE id = ?", [42]) row = cursor.fetchone() row[0] # 42 - by index row.display_name # 'Ada' - by attribute row["display_name"] # 'Ada' - new in 1.8.0

If you set cursor.lowercase = True, string-key lookups become case-insensitive too, matching the casing behavior of attribute access.

ActiveDirectoryMSI authentication for Bulk Copy

Bulk Copy operations now support Authentication=ActiveDirectoryMSI, so workloads running with a managed identity (Azure VMs, App Service, Functions, Container Apps, AKS) can stream bulk inserts to Azure SQL without provisioning a separate credential.

Bundled ODBC driver upgraded to 18.6.2.1

We've upgraded the bundled Microsoft ODBC Driver for SQL Server from 18.5.1.1 to 18.6.2.1. You pick up the upstream fixes and TLS/cert improvements just by upgrading the wheel. No separate ODBC install step.

Bug fixes worth calling out

Deferred connect-attribute use-after-free. Values passed to connection attributes set before connect are now stored in member buffers, so the driver no longer reads freed memory in some attribute-set paths.
Connection string parsed multiple times in the auth path. The auth code path was reparsing the connection string several times per connect. It now operates on the already-parsed parameter dictionary, which is both faster and easier to reason about. Sensitive parameters (UID, PWD, Trusted_Connection, Authentication) are sanitized through a single canonical path before the ODBC handoff.
executemany type annotation regression. seq_of_parameters now uses a covariant Sequence, so passing a list of tuples (or any covariant sequence type) type-checks cleanly again.

Upgrading

For most users, pip install --upgrade mssql-python is all you need. Nothing in this release is intentionally breaking. If you have type stubs or mypy pins that depended on the previous invariant seq_of_parameters annotation, you can drop the workaround.

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who filed issues, sent repros, and reviewed PRs in this cycle. The Row indexing and connection-string parsing work came directly from user-reported scenarios.

Full changelog and PR list: microsoft/mssql-python releases.

Announcing the release of Microsoft OLE DB Driver 19.4.2 for SQL Server

DavidLevy — Tue, 26 May 2026 17:12:48 GMT

We're pleased to announce the general availability (GA) release of Microsoft OLE DB Driver 19.4.2 for SQL Server. This is a maintenance update to the 19.4 line that improves TLS handling, raises a long-standing connection redirection limit, refreshes the bundled authentication library, and fixes accessibility issues in the UDL dialog.

Download

x64 / Arm64 installer
x86 installer

The 64-bit MSI continues to install the appropriate binary (x64 or Arm64) automatically based on the OS platform. MSOLEDBSQL 19 installs side by side with MSOLEDBSQL 18.

Prerequisite: the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable must be installed before running the driver installer.

What's new in 19.4.2

Features added

Feature	Details
SSL/TLS improvements	Improved SSL/TLS handling for better security and performance.
10 redirects per connection	The driver no longer caps connection redirections at 2, which removes a long-standing failure mode for workloads that hit redirection-heavy topologies (for example, certain Azure SQL routing scenarios).

Bugs fixed

Fix	Details
UDL accessibility defects	Fixed accessibility issues in the Universal Data Link (UDL) dialog.
Updated authentication library	Microsoft SQL Driver Authentication library (mssql-auth.dll) updated to version 1.1.3. mssql-auth.dll is the ADAL replacement introduced in 19.4.1 and is installed as part of the driver setup.

Supported languages

19.4.2 is available in: Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, English (United States), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, and Turkish. Direct per-language download links are available in the Release notes and the Download page.

Upgrading

If you're on 19.4.1 or earlier in the 19.x line, an in-place upgrade is supported. As always, we recommend validating in a non-production environment first, especially if your application depends on the redirection or TLS behaviors touched in this release.

Feedback

Please file issues and feature requests on the Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server feedback site or via your usual support channel. Thanks to everyone who reported the UDL accessibility and redirection-limit issues that drove this release.

Announcing mssql-django 1.7.2

DavidLevy — Fri, 22 May 2026 17:00:00 GMT

We're pleased to announce the release of mssql-django 1.7.2, a patch release that ships three targeted bug fixes for the Django backend for Microsoft SQL Server and Azure SQL. This release focuses on correctness: timezone-aware datetimes, QuerySet.explain() on Django 4.0+, and exception handling in a test utility.

Install or upgrade from PyPI:

pip install --upgrade mssql-django

What's new in 1.7.2

Correct timezone handling for DATETIMEOFFSET and Now() under USE_TZ=True

Two long-standing timezone issues are fixed in this release:

handle_datetimeoffset now parses the timezone offset from SQL Server's binary DATETIMEOFFSET representation. Previously, values read from DATETIMEOFFSET columns could be returned without their offset, leading to naive datetimes or values converted using the wrong zone. The backend now returns properly timezone-aware datetime objects.
Now() emits SYSDATETIMEOFFSET() when USE_TZ=True. When Django is configured with USE_TZ=True, the expression Now() previously compiled to SYSDATETIME(), which returns the SQL Server host's local time without offset information. On non-UTC hosts this produced timestamps that were silently shifted. With this fix, Now() compiles to SYSDATETIMEOFFSET() under USE_TZ=True and continues to compile to SYSDATETIME() when USE_TZ=False, matching Django's expectations.

The release adds regression tests covering UTC, +05:30 (IST), -05:00 (EST), -09:30 (Marquesas), and +05:45 (Nepal) offsets, plus a new NowSQLTemplateTests that pins the SQL template emitted in each USE_TZ mode.

QuerySet.explain() no longer raises AttributeError on Django 4.0+

In Django 4.0 the internal API for EXPLAIN plans changed: query.explain_format and query.explain_options were replaced by a single query.explain_info object. The mssql-django compiler still read the old attributes, which raised AttributeError whenever an application called .explain() on a queryset.

The compiler now reads the correct attribute based on the running Django version, so .explain() works again on Django 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, and 6.0. A new ExplainRegressionTests suite locks in the behavior.

Test utility no longer swallows exceptions in finally

A return statement inside a finally block in the JSONField support probe (_check_jsonfield_supported_sqlite()) was silently swallowing exceptions, including KeyboardInterrupt and other BaseException subclasses. The return has been removed so exceptions propagate as Python intends.

Compatibility

mssql-django 1.7.2 supports:

Django: 3.2, 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 6.0
Python: 3.8 through 3.14
SQL Server: 2017, 2019, 2022, 2025; Azure SQL Database; Azure SQL Managed Instance
ODBC Driver: 17 or 18 for SQL Server (driver 18 is the default since 1.7, with automatic fallback to 17 when 18 is not installed)

No configuration changes are required to pick up the fixes in 1.7.2. Upgrade in place:

pip install --upgrade mssql-django

Upgrading from 1.7.1

1.7.2 is a drop-in replacement for 1.7.1. If your application:

reads from DATETIMEOFFSET columns,
uses django.db.models.functions.Now() with USE_TZ=True, or
calls QuerySet.explain() on Django 4.0+,

you will see corrected behavior after upgrading. Applications that previously worked around the timezone offset issue (for example by manually attaching tzinfo to values read from DATETIMEOFFSET columns) should review those workarounds; values returned by the ORM are now timezone-aware by default.

Thank you

Thanks to everyone who reported the underlying issues, contributed reproductions and test cases. Bug reports and pull requests are always welcome on GitHub.

mssql-python 1.7.1 and the case of the missing megabytes

DavidLevy — Thu, 21 May 2026 17:00:00 GMT

We just shipped mssql-python 1.7.1 to PyPI. This release is mostly polish, but the road to publishing it was bumpier than expected, and there is some housekeeping on the PyPI side worth talking about.

What's in 1.7.1

A handful of correctness, performance, and platform fixes that landed since 1.6.0:

PERF: UTF-16 string handling now goes through simdutf and std::u16string, cutting overhead on every string round-trip between Python and the driver.
PERF: Faster execute() hot path with soft reset, prepare caching, and guarded diagnostics.
FIX: Login failures now raise a proper mssql_python exception instead of a raw RuntimeError (issue #532).
FIX: Released the GIL around blocking SQLSetConnectAttr calls so that in-process SSH tunnels (paramiko + sshtunnel) no longer hang connect().
FIX: executemany no longer raises a RuntimeError when decimal signs change between rows (issue #557).
FIX: Consistent retrieval of CP1252-encoded data in VARCHAR columns across Windows and Linux (issue #468).
FIX: manylinux_2_28 build targets so RHEL 8 / glibc 2.28 users get wheels out of the box.
FIX: macOS Python 3.10 now gets a proper universal2 wheel.
DOC: Setup instructions for Azure Linux.

Full set of changes is in the 1.7.1 PR.

The PyPI space story

This release also forced us to confront something we've been watching for a while: we ran out of room on PyPI.

mssql-python ships native code with bundled ODBC driver binaries for every supported OS / architecture / Python version combination. Each wheel is sizeable on its own, and the number of combinations grows quickly: Windows x64 / ARM64 / x86, macOS universal2, manylinux x86_64 / aarch64, musllinux x86_64 / aarch64, across multiple Python versions. Multiply that by every release we keep on PyPI and the project size adds up fast.

PyPI projects have a per-project storage quota. When we tried to release 1.7.0 we hit it.

What we did short-term

To get 1.7.1 published we cleaned house on old artifacts that nobody should be pulling in fresh installs anymore:

Removed all 1.0.0-alpha packages from PyPI.
Removed all 1.x.x-beta packages from PyPI.
Removed the 1.7.0 packages that made it to PyPI before we hit the space limit.

Pre-release alphas and betas were intentionally there for early adopters during the ramp-up of the driver. None of them are recommended for production use, and the GA versions (1.0.0 and up) supersede everything those wheels offered. If you were pinned to an alpha or beta version, please move to the latest GA release (pip install -U mssql-python). If you have a specific reason that you can't, please let us know in an issue. We want to hear about it.

What we're doing longer-term

Cleaning out old pre-releases buys us breathing room, not a solution. The wheel matrix is going to keep growing as we add platforms, and we don't want to be back in the same spot in three releases.

We're attacking the problem from two directions in parallel:

Split up the deployment. We're working out how to break the published artifacts into smaller pieces so that an install only pulls down what it actually needs. Concretely we're evaluating splitting the bundled native dependencies (ODBC driver binaries, etc.) out of the main wheels so the per-platform wheel size drops substantially. Exact shape is still being designed and we'll have more to share when we've nailed it down. The goal is that a typical pip install mssql-python stays a one-liner with no extra steps, while the on-disk and on-PyPI footprint is a fraction of what it is today.
Asked PyPI for more space. In parallel we've put in a request to PyPI for a storage quota increase. This is a normal process for projects that legitimately need more room, and it gives us a safety net while the longer-term splitting work lands.

We are looking at the space increase as the immediate buffer, and the split is the durable fix.

Upgrading

Nothing user-visible has changed about how you install or use the driver:

pip install -U mssql-python

If you previously pinned to an alpha or beta version, you'll need to move to the latest GA. If you hit any issues during the upgrade, please file a GitHub issue — we read all of them.

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who filed bug reports, repro scripts, and PRs that fed into this release. The fixes we shipped came from real user issues, and the SSH-tunnel and CP1252 ones in particular were caught by community reproductions that made the root cause obvious. Keep them coming.

Cumulative Update #5 for SQL Server 2025 RTM

HarveyMoraSQL — Tue, 26 May 2026 23:59:29 GMT

The 5th cumulative update release for SQL Server 2025 RTM is now available for download at the Microsoft Downloads site. Please note that registration is no longer required to download Cumulative updates.
To learn more about the release or servicing model, please visit:

CU5 KB Article: https://learn.microsoft.com/troubleshoot/sql/releases/sqlserver-2025/cumulativeupdate5

Starting with SQL Server 2017, we adopted a new modern servicing model. Please refer to our blog for more details on Modern Servicing Model for SQL Server.

Microsoft® SQL Server® 2025 RTM Latest Cumulative Update: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=69e0b8fc-1c50-41bd-a576-b9c66b2f302a
Update Center for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updates

Cumulative Update #25 for SQL Server 2022 RTM

SrinivasSQL — Wed, 20 May 2026 19:59:45 GMT

The 25th cumulative update release for SQL Server 2022 RTM is now available for download at the Microsoft Downloads site. Please note that registration is no longer required to download Cumulative updates.
To learn more about the release or servicing model, please visit:

CU25 KB Article: https://learn.microsoft.com/troubleshoot/sql/releases/sqlserver-2022/cumulativeupdate25

Starting with SQL Server 2017, we adopted a new modern servicing model. Please refer to our blog for more details on Modern Servicing Model for SQL Server

Microsoft® SQL Server® 2022 RTM Latest Cumulative Update: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=105013
Update Center for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updates

Security Update for SQL Server 2025 RTM CU4

SrinivasSQL — Tue, 26 May 2026 22:13:35 GMT

The Security Update for SQL Server 2025 RTM CU4 is now available for download at the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update Catalog sites. This package cumulatively includes all previous security fixes for SQL Server 2025 RTM CUs, plus it includes the new security fixes detailed in the KB Article.

Security Bulletins:

CVE-2026-40370 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - SQL Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Security Update of SQL Server 2025 RTM CU4 KB Article: KB5089899
Microsoft Download Center: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=a9274560-fbdb-421c-b2cb-123ab69dc098
Microsoft Update Catalog: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=5089899
Latest Updates for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updates

Security Update for SQL Server 2025 RTM

SrinivasSQL — Tue, 26 May 2026 22:15:31 GMT

The Security Update for SQL Server 2025 RTM GDR is now available for download at the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update Catalog sites. This package cumulatively includes all previous security fixes for SQL Server 2025 RTM, plus it includes the new security fixes detailed in the KB Article.

Security Bulletins:

CVE-2026-40370 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - SQL Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Security Update of SQL Server 2025 RTM GDR KB Article: KB5091223
Microsoft Download Center: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=070dacdf-e60d-4a91-8e94-e1f4e453b7b5
Microsoft Update Catalog: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=5091223
Latest Updates for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updates

Security Update for SQL Server 2022 RTM CU24

SrinivasSQL — Tue, 26 May 2026 22:13:00 GMT

The Security Update for SQL Server 2022 RTM CU24 is now available for download at the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update Catalog sites. This package cumulatively includes all previous security fixes for SQL Server 2022 RTM CUs, plus it includes the new security fixes detailed in the KB Article.

Security Bulletins:

CVE-2026-40370 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - SQL Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Security Update of SQL Server 2022 RTM CU24 KB Article: KB5089900
Microsoft Download Center: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=34ec989d-5c02-41b7-99ec-f2c35c7a4cdf
Microsoft Update Catalog: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=5089900
Latest Updates for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updates

Security Update for SQL Server 2022 RTM

SrinivasSQL — Tue, 26 May 2026 22:15:48 GMT

The Security Update for SQL Server 2022 RTM GDR is now available for download at the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update Catalog sites. This package cumulatively includes all previous security fixes for SQL Server 2022 RTM, plus it includes the new security fixes detailed in the KB Article.

Security Bulletins:

CVE-2026-40370 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - SQL Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Security Update of SQL Server 2022 RTM GDR KB Article: KB5091158
Microsoft Download Center: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=9edbb614-c56a-4c5a-b4dc-157d4036f44c
Microsoft Update Catalog: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=5091158
Latest Updates for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updates

Security Update for SQL Server 2019 RTM CU32

SrinivasSQL — Tue, 26 May 2026 22:16:05 GMT

The Security Update for SQL Server 2019 RTM CU32 is now available for download at the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update Catalog sites. This package cumulatively includes all previous security fixes for SQL Server 2019 RTM CUs, plus it includes the new security fixes detailed in the KB Article.

Security Bulletins:

CVE-2026-40370 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - SQL Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Security Update of SQL Server 2019 RTM CU32 KB Article: KB5090407
Microsoft Download Center: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=bb9b5d10-84c4-4cca-85bf-abb93a453f57
Microsoft Update Catalog: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=5090407
Latest Updates for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updates

Security Update for SQL Server 2019 RTM

SrinivasSQL — Tue, 26 May 2026 22:16:32 GMT

The Security Update for SQL Server 2019 RTM GDR is now available for download at the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update Catalog sites. This package cumulatively includes all previous security fixes for SQL Server 2019 RTM, plus it includes the new security fixes detailed in the KB Article.

Security Bulletins:

CVE-2026-40370 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - SQL Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Security Update of SQL Server 2019 RTM GDR KB Article: KB5090408
Microsoft Download Center: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=ad8a836a-cf79-44c9-b361-d94a8fe698e1
Microsoft Update Catalog: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=5090408
Latest Updates for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updates

Security Update for SQL Server 2017 RTM CU31

SrinivasSQL — Tue, 26 May 2026 22:16:51 GMT

The Security Update for SQL Server 2017 RTM CU31 is now available for download at the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update Catalog sites. This package cumulatively includes all previous security fixes for SQL Server 2017 RTM CUs, plus it includes the new security fixes detailed in the KB Article.

Security Bulletins:

CVE-2026-40370 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - SQL Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Security Update of SQL Server 2017 RTM CU31 KB Article: KB5090354
Microsoft Download Center: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=3d1a0db7-cdd3-4021-be11-73f43c870fac
Microsoft Update Catalog: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=5090354
Latest Updates for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updates

Security Update for SQL Server 2017 RTM

SrinivasSQL — Tue, 26 May 2026 22:17:10 GMT

The Security Update for SQL Server 2017 RTM GDR is now available for download at the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update Catalog sites. This package cumulatively includes all previous security fixes for SQL Server 2017 RTM, plus it includes the new security fixes detailed in the KB Article.

Security Bulletins:

CVE-2026-40370 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - SQL Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Security Update of SQL Server 2017 RTM GDR KB Article: KB5090347
Microsoft Download Center: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=09c81e42-2942-4fb8-b84b-f0905fcd3b33
Microsoft Update Catalog: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=5090347
Latest Updates for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updates

Security Update for SQL Server 2016 SP3 Azure Connect Feature Pack

SrinivasSQL — Tue, 26 May 2026 22:20:12 GMT

The Security Update for SQL Server 2016 SP3 Azure Connect Feature Pack is now available for download at the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update Catalog sites. This package cumulatively includes all previous security fixes for SQL Server 2016 SP3 Azure Connect Feature Pack, plus it includes the new security fixes detailed in the KB Article.

Security Bulletins:

CVE-2026-40370 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - SQL Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Security Update of SQL Server 2016 SP3 Azure Connect Feature Pack KB Article: KB5089270
Microsoft Download Center: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=f9014a03-feca-41c1-bc64-fb801e0e9799
Microsoft Update Catalog: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=5089270
Latest Updates for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updates

Security Update for SQL Server 2016 SP3

SrinivasSQL — Tue, 26 May 2026 22:20:27 GMT

The Security Update for SQL Server 2016 SP3 GDR is now available for download at the Microsoft Download Center and Microsoft Update Catalog sites. This package cumulatively includes all previous security fixes for SQL Server 2016 SP3, plus it includes the new security fixes detailed in the KB Article.

Security Bulletins:

CVE-2026-40370 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - SQL Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Security Update of SQL Server 2016 SP3 GDR KB Article: KB5089271
Microsoft Download Center: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=07b113c3-1315-444e-b442-b0297f0cebe1
Microsoft Update Catalog: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=5089271
Latest Updates for Microsoft SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/sql/releases/download-and-install-latest-updates

Announcing SQL Server Management Studio 22.6.0

mbarickman — Tue, 12 May 2026 21:55:41 GMT

It's been a minute since I've posted here - but rest assured that the SSMS team has been working hard to bring you lots of exciting features and fixes! Today we shipped SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 22.6.0, and it's a really nice mix of work: continued investment in Database DevOps (preview), a security-related update to how we authenticate against Azure Storage, a handful of quality-of-life improvements in the editor and tools, and a solid roundup of bug fixes (many of which came directly from items filed on the feedback site!). Thank you, as always, for taking the time to log issues and upvote what matters to you. It really does shape what we work on.

Let's dig into what's new!

Database DevOps (preview)

SQL projects support in SSMS continues to evolve with incremental changes, including an adjustment to the Solution Explorer icon for solutions to match the '.slnx' icon found in Visual Studio.

SSMS Solution Explorer with the updated solutions icon.

This release also introduces the ability to create a SQL project directly from an existing database. Once a project is created, you can check it into source control and work with it in VS Code or vice versa, enabling a flexible experience across different tools and teams. If a database changes over time, you can use the SQL projects "Import From Database..." menu item in Solution explorer to update your project with the latest schema changes. This allows you to keep your project in sync with the database and maintain a single source of truth for your database schema.

New entry point alert! Now you can right click a database in Object Explorer and create a project from there!

Once your database definition is captured in a SQL project, CI/CD pipelines and the SqlPackage CLI can be used to automate deployments and manage the quality of database changes. Documentation is available at aka.ms/sqlprojects-docs, and our public roadmap at aka.ms/sqlprojects-roadmap shows what's coming next.

Unified Settings

We're continuing to migrate settings from the classic Tools > Options dialog into the new Unified Settings experience. In 22.6, Transact-SQL IntelliSense and Keyboard Query Shortcuts are now available in Unified Settings. If you haven't opened Unified Settings yet, give it a try. The search and filtering experience is significantly better than what we had before, and we'd love your feedback as we keep moving more settings over. I also recorded a Data Exposed episode with Anna Hoffman where I talk about a few ways you can customize your SSMS 22 installation to work for you.

The new Unified Settings experience is an embedded tab with powerful searching and filtering capabilities.

Storage Account access - now with Entra authentication

This one is worth calling out for anyone who connects to Azure Storage accounts from SSMS. The Storage Browser, DACPAC import/export, and Merge Audit File dialogs have all been updated to support Microsoft Entra-based authentication instead of shared key access. Shared keys have been a long-standing concern from a security perspective, and moving these flows to Entra brings them in line with modern authentication guidance.

Quality-of-life improvements

A few smaller changes that I think are worth highlighting:

Registered Servers: Multi-server connection attempts can now be cancelled. If you've ever kicked off a connection to a large group and immediately realized you picked the wrong one, you no longer have to wait it out. There's now a Cancel button.
Results Grid: Hovering over a column header in the results grid now shows the column's data type in the tooltip. Small, but handy, this comes straight from a feedback item.
Query Designer: In the Show Criteria pane, there's a new right-click option to Change Column Width for an individual column.

GitHub Copilot in SSMS

On the GitHub Copilot side, this release is primarily about stability and cleanup rather than new capabilities. We fixed a crash that some of you ran into when using Copilot Edit, and we removed the GPT-5* models from Ask mode. They may return down the road; for now, the remaining models should give you a more consistent experience.

If you missed Erin's blog post about 22.5.2, code completions are still disabled by default. You can opt back in under Tools > Options > Text Editor > Inline Suggestions.

Fixes worth highlighting

The full list is in the release notes, but a few that I expect folks will be happy to see:

Connection Dialog: Passwords are no longer displayed in plain text when viewing a connection string. This came in as a feedback item for SQL Lakehouse connections specifically, but the fix applies broadly.
Object Explorer: Fixed the "object reference not set to an instance of an object" error that some of you saw when deleting multiple items at once and addressed an issue where newly created objects sometimes didn't appear in Object Explorer until you disconnected and reconnected.
Migration Landing Page: the Migration page we introduced in 22.5 now supports dark theme!
Query Editor: Editor tooltips are no longer unreadable when you're using a dark theme with a light editor appearance.

A reminder on rolling back

We say this from time to time, but it's worth repeating: if a release ever creates trouble for you, you can roll back to a previous version of SSMS 22 from the Visual Studio Installer. From the SSMS 22 entry, select More > Rollback to previous version. And if you're ever in a spot where you need a specific older build, the Release History page lists them.

Summary

You can find the complete release notes here. As always, thank you for using SSMS, for the feedback items, the upvotes, the comments, and the patience as we keep iterating. Please keep them coming, the feedback site is the best way to influence what shows up in the next release.

Microsoft ODBC Driver 17.11.1 for SQL Server Released

DavidLevy — Mon, 04 May 2026 13:31:22 GMT

We are pleased to announce the general availability of Microsoft ODBC Driver 17.11.1 for SQL Server, released on April 30, 2026. This servicing update delivers important bug fixes and expands Linux platform support.

Key Highlights

Stability and correctness fixes for parameter array processing, including accurate updates to SQL_ATTR_PARAMS_PROCESSED_PTR and improved row counting when SQL_PARAM_IGNORE is used in parameter arrays.
Fixed a connection error that could occur when processing Data Classification metadata in ODBC asynchronous mode.
Updated RPM packaging rules to allow installation of multiple driver versions side by side.
Corrected XA recovery to ensure proper computation of transaction IDs and recovery of missing transactions.
Debian package installation now honors license acceptance for successful completion.

New Platform Support

Platform	Versions
macOS	14, 15, 26
Debian	13
Red Hat Enterprise Linux	10
Oracle Linux	9, 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server	16
Ubuntu	24.04, 25.10
Alpine Linux	3.21, 3.22, 3.23

Download

The driver is available for download from the Microsoft ODBC Driver for SQL Server documentation page.

Linux Installation

Install or update using your distribution's package manager:

Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install msodbcsql17

Red Hat/Oracle Linux:

sudo yum install msodbcsql17

SUSE:

sudo zypper install msodbcsql17

Alpine:

sudo apk add msodbcsql17

Feedback

We welcome your feedback. Please report issues on the SQL Server feedback site or open an issue on the ODBC Driver GitHub repository.

go-mssqldb v1.10.0: Better Reliability, Developer Experience, and Standards Compliance

DavidLevy — Fri, 01 May 2026 18:00:00 GMT

We're excited to announce the release of go-mssqldb v1.10.0, the official Microsoft Go driver for SQL Server and Azure SQL Database. This release brings significant reliability improvements, better standards compliance, and a smoother developer onboarding experience.

Highlights

Detect Server-Aborted Transactions (XACT_ABORT)

One of the most impactful fixes in this release addresses a subtle but dangerous bug: when SQL Server aborts a transaction due to XACT_ABORT ON, the driver now correctly detects this state. Previously, a silently aborted transaction could lead to subsequent statements being auto-committed outside the intended transaction boundary, potentially causing data integrity issues. The driver now returns a clear error when you attempt to use a connection whose transaction was server-aborted. (#370)

Implement driver.DriverContext Interface

The driver now implements Go's driver.DriverContext interface, enabling sql.OpenDB-style usage and better integration with connection pool configuration via sql.DB.SetConnMaxLifetime, SetMaxOpenConns, etc. This brings the driver in line with modern Go database/sql conventions. (#365)

Surface Errors from Rows.Close()

Previously, server errors that occurred during the token drain phase of Rows.Close() were silently swallowed. Now these errors are properly surfaced to callers, making it much easier to diagnose issues like permission errors or constraint violations that manifest during result set cleanup. (#361)

Nullable Civil Types for Date/Time Parameters

New nullable types (civil.NullDate, civil.NullTime, civil.NullDateTime) allow you to pass nullable date/time parameters without resorting to *time.Time or raw interface{} values. These integrate cleanly with the database/sql scanner and valuer interfaces. (#325)

DevContainer for Instant Development

Getting started with go-mssqldb development is now as simple as opening the repo in VS Code or GitHub Codespaces. The new devcontainer configuration includes a SQL Server instance, pre-configured environment variables, and all required tooling. (#317)

All Changes

Features

Add devcontainer for VS Code and GitHub Codespaces (#317)
Add FailoverPartnerSPN connection string parameter (#327)
Add NewConnectorWithProcessQueryText for mssql driver compatibility (#341)
Add nullable civil types for date/time parameters (#325)

Bug Fixes

Allow named pipe protocol support for ARM64 Windows (#232)
Detect server-aborted transactions to prevent silent auto-commit with XACT_ABORT (#370)
Expose TrustServerCertificate in msdsn.Config and URL round-trip (#312)
Handle COLINFO and TABNAME TDS tokens returned by tables with triggers (#343)
Implement driver.DriverContext interface (#365)
Make readCancelConfirmation respect context cancellation (#359)
Return interface{} scanType for sql_variant instead of nil (#362)
Sanitize credentials from connection string parsing errors (#319)
Surface server errors from Rows.Close() during token drain (#361)

Upgrade

go get github.com/microsoft/go-mssqldb@v1.10.0

This release requires Go 1.21+ and is fully compatible with SQL Server 2012 through 2022 and Azure SQL Database.

Contributing

We welcome contributions! The new devcontainer makes it easier than ever to get started. Open the repo in VS Code, reopen in the container, and you'll have a full development environment with SQL Server ready to go.

Announcing Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 6.1.5

DavidLevy — Fri, 01 May 2026 17:00:00 GMT

We are pleased to announce the release of Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 6.1.5, the latest servicing update to the 6.1 line. This update focuses on connection performance, error propagation, and vector type metadata correctness.

Install or update from NuGet:

dotnet add package Microsoft.Data.SqlClient --version 6.1.5

Full release notes: 6.1.5 Release Notes

What's in this release

Faster connection opens for non-integrated authentication on native SNI

A regression caused SPN (Service Principal Name) generation to run for non-integrated authentication modes, such as SQL authentication, on the native SNI path. That triggered unnecessary DNS lookups and could significantly slow down connection opens. This fix restores the expected behavior for affected .NET applications on Windows. (#3523, #3946)

ExecuteScalar now propagates post-row server errors

ExecuteScalar could previously hide errors when SQL Server returned row data followed by an error token. In those cases, errors such as conversion failures during WHERE clause evaluation were consumed during SqlDataReader.Close() instead of being thrown to the caller, which could leave transactions unexpectedly zombied. This fix ensures the error is surfaced correctly to application code. (#3736, #3947)

Correct metadata type for vector float32 columns

SqlDataReader.GetFieldType() and GetProviderSpecificFieldType() now return the correct type, SqlVector<float>, for vector float32 columns. Previously these APIs returned metadata that did not match the type-resolution behavior used by GetValue(). (#4104, #4151)

Getting started

If you are new to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient, check out the introduction documentation. For users of System.Data.SqlClient, please move migrate to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient now. See the porting cheat sheet.

If you encounter any issues, please report them on the GitHub repository.

SQL Server Blog articles

mssql-python 1.8.0: friendlier Row access, Bulk Copy with MSI, and a refreshed ODBC driver

Highlights

Row objects now support string-key indexing

ActiveDirectoryMSI authentication for Bulk Copy

Bundled ODBC driver upgraded to 18.6.2.1

Bug fixes worth calling out

Upgrading

Thanks

Announcing the release of Microsoft OLE DB Driver 19.4.2 for SQL Server

Download

What's new in 19.4.2

Features added

Bugs fixed

Supported languages

Upgrading

Feedback

Announcing mssql-django 1.7.2

What's new in 1.7.2

Correct timezone handling for DATETIMEOFFSET and Now() under USE_TZ=True

QuerySet.explain() no longer raises AttributeError on Django 4.0+

Test utility no longer swallows exceptions in finally

Compatibility

Upgrading from 1.7.1

Thank you

Links

mssql-python 1.7.1 and the case of the missing megabytes

What's in 1.7.1

The PyPI space story

What we did short-term

What we're doing longer-term

Upgrading

Thanks

Cumulative Update #5 for SQL Server 2025 RTM

Cumulative Update #25 for SQL Server 2022 RTM

Security Update for SQL Server 2025 RTM CU4

Security Update for SQL Server 2025 RTM

Security Update for SQL Server 2022 RTM CU24

Security Update for SQL Server 2022 RTM

Security Update for SQL Server 2019 RTM CU32

Security Update for SQL Server 2019 RTM

Security Update for SQL Server 2017 RTM CU31

Security Update for SQL Server 2017 RTM

Security Update for SQL Server 2016 SP3 Azure Connect Feature Pack

Security Update for SQL Server 2016 SP3

Announcing SQL Server Management Studio 22.6.0

Database DevOps (preview)

Unified Settings

Storage Account access - now with Entra authentication

Quality-of-life improvements

GitHub Copilot in SSMS

Fixes worth highlighting

A reminder on rolling back

Summary

Microsoft ODBC Driver 17.11.1 for SQL Server Released

Key Highlights

New Platform Support

Download

Linux Installation

Feedback

go-mssqldb v1.10.0: Better Reliability, Developer Experience, and Standards Compliance

Highlights

Detect Server-Aborted Transactions (XACT_ABORT)

Implement driver.DriverContext Interface

Surface Errors from Rows.Close()

Nullable Civil Types for Date/Time Parameters

DevContainer for Instant Development

All Changes

Features

Bug Fixes

Upgrade

Contributing

Announcing Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 6.1.5

What's in this release

Faster connection opens for non-integrated authentication on native SNI

ExecuteScalar now propagates post-row server errors

Correct metadata type for vector float32 columns

Getting started