error when running any query in sql server management studio: the file exists

I've been struggling with this one for while and when I recently installed Toad for MySQL I got the same issue.

I installed sysInternals process monitor tool to try and work out which file was causing the issue.

The answer is temp files.

Both SQL server management studio and toad use a similar naming convention for their temp files. Both use the temp directory under your user account in Documents and Settings. In my case, there were over 60 thousand *.tmp files in that directory.

Watching the query execute through process monitor I could see the SQL IDE continually trying and failing to identify a temp file name which didn't exist until it finally gives up with a "The file exists" error.

The solution is simply to clear out the *.tmp files in your local settings temp directory.

Both SQL Management Studio and Toad for MySQL are now working fine on my machine.

Hope this helps.

Going further into Stephen's answer, the path would be:

• For Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Local Settings\Temp
• For Vista and above: C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Temp
• Or simply paste %TEMP% into the Windows Explorer address bar to get the path.

I recommend this little plugin in case you can't access the route:

Take Ownership
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1911-take-ownership-shortcut.html

I ran into the same issue with SQL Server 2012 running on Windows 8.1. As @Stephen mentioned, the issue is with the temp files but I couldn't find them in the location he mentioned. Solved the problem by running disk cleanup and directing it to delete Temporary Files.