Why does it take so long for SQL Management Studio to connect?

This sounds stupid but I had a problem of a very slow SQL Server Management Studio and this trick solved it:

• Open Internet Explorer
• Go to Tools -> Internet option
• Open the "Advanced" tab
• Uncheck "Check for server certificate revocation (requires restart)"

This trick is only effective if the computer where your SQL Server Management Studio is installed is NOT connected to Internet. Only doing that solved my problem. Maybe it will solve yours.

This worked for me: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio is too Slow

In a corporate environment it is not uncommon for Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) for SQL Server 2005 to take over 45 seconds to start as well as lags and delays when opening various windows and dialog boxes from within the application. If you are experiencing this issue, then a quick fix is to add an entry in your HOSTS. file that points crl.microsoft.com to 127.0.0.1

• Exit SSMS
• Press the keys [Win] + [R]

• Enter the following..

  notepad %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts.
  

• Append the following..

  127.0.0.1    crl.microsoft.com
  

• Save the file.

• Start SSMS (ah! much better)

by default, when connecting to a local server, the network protocol used is shared memory. This can be quite slow sometimes.

I was experiencing the same speed issue when connecting to a similiarly specced box locally, but not remotely.

Do you get the same slowdown if you specify the TCP/IP network protocol when connecting?

EDIT Also, according to Microsoft, this may be an issue caused by Management Studio being 32bit and being run on a 64bit OS. See here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906892