Creating a database diagram crashes SSMS with a memory corruption error

Question

I'm working in SQL Server Management Studio Express version.

When I create database diagrams in SQL Server Management Studio, I get an error:

Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.

What's causing this error?

Wouldn't this be more fitting on http://dba.stackexchange.com/? — jpmc26, Jun 04 '14 at 14:02
@jpmc26 Perhaps, but I'm not sure if it's entirely off-topic here to warrant a migration (if that's still possible given the question's age). — user247702, Jun 04 '14 at 14:09

score 7 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 23 '14 at 16:51

This is a known issue and has been reported on Microsoft Connect: SMSS crashes when creating new database diagram

A possible cause is having VS 2012 installed, installing VS 2013 and later uninstalling VS 2013. It leaves the VS 2012 installation corrupted.

Two workarounds(any one of the steps fixes the issue):

Delete C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Visual Database Tools\dsref80.dll and everything in C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\MSDesigners8\, then run a repair for VS 2012 (OR)
Copy the files mentioned above from a system with an uncorrupted installation.

Additional workarounds can be found on the Connect issue.

I'm not copyed database from another computer. – Asp.net MVC Jan 26 '14 at 05:40 — Asp.net MVC, Jan 26 '14 at 05:40

1 Answers1