SSMS plug-ins (SQL Prompt, SQL Search, SQL Source Control, SQL Test) are missing from SSMS

There are several reasons why one of the SSMS plug-in tools may not appear in SQL Server Management Studio:

  • If you have upgraded SSMS, you will need to uninstall and reinstall your Redgate plug-in tools.
  • The version of SSMS may not be supported; check the requirements here
  • You may be trying to install SQL Prompt version 10.3 or later into SSMS 2014 or earlier, which is not supported.
  • While rare, you may have certain versions of other Redgate plugins which are conflicting. Try updating SQL Prompt, SQL Source Control, SQL Test, and SQL Search.
  • The Redgate toolbar may be collapsed because it doesn't fit in its current location, as below. This is common with SSMS 2016 and later. 

You can drag the Redgate toolbar to another area to get all of the buttons to appear on screen.

  • It may be missing from a newly installed version of SSMS.
  • It may disappear after upgrading.

For the latter two, a simple repair or reinstall should normally resolve the issue. (If the tool isn't listed as installed in Control Panel but the installer says it's already installed, please open a support ticket for guidance).

Should the repair or reinstall not help, please try the steps below:

For SSMS 2012 and 2014:

The problem is likely with the SSMS Integration Pack Framework 1 (SIPFW) which is a set of files that our SSMS plugins use to integrate into SSMS 2014 and earlier.

This SIPFW used to be installed as a separate program and you may have files leftover from an older version of SIPFW.

This can sometimes be fixed by repairing the SIPFW installation:

  1. Open Programs and Features
  2. Right-click SSMS Integration Pack Framework 1 and select Repair

You should now be able to access the plug-in normally but if it still doesn't appear in SSMS try a clean install:

  1. Open Add or Remove Programs 
  2. Uninstall the tool
  3. If it exists, uninstall  SSMS Integration Pack Framework 1 (not to be confused with the SSMS Integration Pack 1)
  4. Delete any of the following which still exist:
    • C:\Program Data\Redgate\SIPFW
    • C:\Program Files (x86)\Red gate\<Name of tool> 
    • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\XX.0\Addins\RedGate.SIPFramework.addin
    • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\XX.0\Addins\<NameOfTool>.addin file
  5.  Reinstall the tool

For SSMS 2016 and 2017:

1. Open Add or Remove Programs 
2. Uninstall the tool
3. If it still exists, delete C:\Program Files (x86)\Red gate\<Name of tool>
4. If it still exists, delete C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\XXX\Tools\Binn\ManagementStudio\Extensions\<Name of tool>
5. Reinstall the tool

For SSMS 2018 and later:

1. Open Add or Remove Programs 
2. Uninstall the tool
3. If it still exists, delete C:\Program Files (x86)\Red gate\<Name of tool>
4. If it still exists, delete C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio XX\Common7\IDE\Extensions\<Name of tool>
5. Reinstall the tool

If the problem persists, please zip any log files in %localappdata%\Local\Red Gate\Logs, open a support request and attach the file.

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