Change the default installation path of SQL Server Management Studio

Question

Can I change the default installation path when installing SQL Server Management Studio that is C:?

My C: drive is full as it has system applications and I want to install SQL Server Management Studio in D: drive. Is this possible?

Answer 1

There is no direct approach (At last now) to change the default SQL Server Management Studio installation path but you can use Symbolic Links:

What are Symbolic Links?

From The Complete Guide to Creating Symbolic Links (aka Symlinks) on Windows :

Symbolic links are basically advanced shortcuts. Create a symbolic link to an individual file or folder, and that link will appear to be the same as the file or folder to Windows even though it’s just a link pointing at the file or folder.

Windows 10 users

Windows 10 users must first enable Developer Mode from

Settings > Update & Security > For Developers.

How To

1. Open Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell with Run as Administrator and paste this command before installing SQL Server Management Studio

mkdir "D:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server"
mkdir "D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server"

mklink /J "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server" "D:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server"
mklink /J "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server" "D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server"

2. Now install SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

There may be some other file and folder in drive C like AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server but they aren't bigger than 1GB.

What if already installed SSMS?

Close all instance of SSMS and rename these folders to anything you wish:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server

Follow How To steps and move the contents of the folders (cut/paste) to the new location

D:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server
D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server