SQL2012\2014 Management Studio – Cannot find one or more components. Please reinstall the application

Struck an issue with a Windows 2012 Server with VS2012 installed trying to open SQL 2012 Management Studio giving the error:

“Cannot find one or more components.  Please reinstall the application”

After having tried a heap of combination of things, installing SQL 2014 Management Studio, uninstalling, reinstalling… Then repairing VS2012, installing SQL 2014 Management Studio again. All to no avail.

What finally got me over the line was to uninstall the Visual Studio 2010 Shell, this was done by downloading the installer from this link: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=1366

Once downloaded, run the installer and remove the VS2010 Shell component. Once done, run the SQL 2014 Management Studio installer or do a repair on your existing installation, this will itself reinstall the VS2010 Shell components.

Then bam, it finally opened for me.

108 comments

  1. Muthu says:

    Thank you. Your solution worked perfectly well.

  2. Mohammad says:

    Thanks . it work.
    this is the only way to solve this error.
    I saw other website but non of them wasn’t true

  3. Willians says:

    Thank you very much for this contribution, I was trying to solve this problem a whole weekend and could not until Monday that I see your publication.
    thank you very much

  4. Michelangelo says:

    Removing HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\11.0_Config won’t work in my case, but your solution works fine.
    Thank you.
    Michelangelo Ferro

  5. Rik says:

    FINALLY! Something that works!! I cannot believe that it took this for Management Studio to run, but it did and I can finally get back to real work. Many thanks for posting this solution!.

  6. Thank you very much for posting this info. My SQL Express 2012 Management Studio suddenly stopped with the dreaded “Cannot find one or more components” msg and I tried everything to fix it. I then gave up and installed SQL Express 2014 only to get the same error 🙁

    After uninstalling the Visual Studio 2010 Shell, using your link, I was able to successfully repair SQL Express 2014, without error msgs, as advertised 🙂 A wasted day (thx Microsoft) has been saved thx to you. There was really no way to guess what the problem was so your info was invaluable.

  7. Jinh says:

    I spent several hours try to fix the problem with different ways. The solutionposted here finally got the issue fixed. Thanks for sharing the info.

  8. Eric says:

    Thanks for posting this. I too tried a bunch of different things. In my case after downloading the installer I did not get a prompt to uninstall so I did the install and then Mgt Studio worked. Thanks again.

  9. sad says:

    thank you, this advice solved this problem perfectly

  10. Gowtham says:

    Thank you very much.It works

  11. Michael Yang says:

    Thank you so much , depends on your solution, i fixed it .

    my PC sys is windows 8.1(Chinese version) , i installed SQL 2014 express (English version) first (the manager studio work well),then i install VS 2013 (Chinese version) , when i tired to open sql manager studio again , the error message displayed “Cannot find one or more components. Please reinstall the application”

    Thanks again

    • benmenbon says:

      If you are running the setup from an iso file, navigate to this file, F:\redist\VisualStudioShell, and run this file:
      VS10sp1-KB983509-Pro.msp. it would reinstall the shell and it would be fixed.
      note:F is my mounted drive for the iso

  12. Ashish says:

    This trick is absolutely amazing….! Worked like a charm…..Thank you so much!

  13. Ranjit says:

    Hello,

    I tried the exact steps provided and for 4 times.
    Did not work for me…. still the same exact message when I open SSMS.

    Any other suggestions!!

    Thanks,
    Ranjit

    • Ranjit says:

      Hello,

      It worked for me now. I been to the properties of SSMS.exe shortcut from start menu.

      Unchecked “Run this program in compatibility mode” and “Run this program as Administrator”.

      Finally run Repair option and things started working for me.

      Thanks,
      Ranjit

    • benmenbon says:

      If you are running the setup from an iso file, navigate to this file, F:\redist\VisualStudioShell, and run this file:
      VS10sp1-KB983509-Pro.msp. it would reinstall the shell and it would be fixed.
      note:F is my mounted drive for the iso

  14. Aakash Arora says:

    Awesome post…!, its my first feedback to any post ever.

  15. asd says:

    IT WORKS , thankss

  16. amanda says:

    Bam, mine works as well. Thank you, you saved my christmas.

    Wish you all a very merry christmas

    sincerely

    Amanda

  17. Magne Rekdal says:

    Thanks a lot. Spent most of two working days trying to fix this, but your solution worked perfectly.

  18. Chris says:

    Just awesome!!

    Thx

  19. Dan says:

    Worked for me after much head smashing on keyboard, dribbling and crying. I can now get on with my work – thanks!

  20. Robert Tessler says:

    installed the 2010 visual studio shell and all the problems went away thanks

  21. Abdellah says:

    After some reilstatllation of SQL Server, SSMS and Visual Studio without resolve my problème. This solution is perfect Thank you

  22. Waka says:

    I always search for fixes for computer issues but nothing seems to work.

    For the first time…

    THIS ACTUALLY WORKS!!!!!

    THANKS ALOT!!!!

  23. David says:

    Thanks a lot for this awesome post, it worked perfectly for me 🙂

  24. sabika says:

    Many Thanks! It was a nightmare loosing all my work databases but this solution really helped!

  25. Yep! Finally a solution that worked. Very nice!

    • priya says:

      HI,

      I have installed sql 2016 setup but while installing ssms I’m unable to open it.

      Getting ” cannot open one or more component”.

      Can you help me .

  26. Matthew says:

    Even MSDN and super user didn’t have a way to fix the problem. Thank you so much!!!

  27. Saravanan Ponmudi says:

    You are great man.It worked!!! I was having trouble because of this for alomost six months and it solved…Too Good!!!

  28. Danish Habib says:

    I did these steps but still getting the same error 🙁

    • benmenbon says:

      If you are running the setup from an iso file, navigate to this file, F:\redist\VisualStudioShell, and run this file:
      VS10sp1-KB983509-Pro.msp. it would reinstall the shell and it would be fixed.
      note:F is my mounted drive for the iso

  29. Danish Habib says:

    This did not work in my case still getting the same error cannot fine one or more components ….:(

    • benmenbon says:

      If you are running the setup from an iso file, navigate to this file, F:\redist\VisualStudioShell, and run this file:
      VS10sp1-KB983509-Pro.msp. it would reinstall the shell and it would be fixed.
      note:F is my mounted drive for the iso

  30. Murtada Mihyawi says:

    appreciate it.
    it works for me after a long period of time

  31. Wen says:

    Thanks a lot! You save my day!

  32. You are perfect, wonderful,fascinating… solved my problem thank you 🙂

  33. Patrick says:

    This works for thank !!

  34. Raj says:

    Right click on the management studio and set it to run as administrator. That’s all.. it started working fine.

  35. Mayur Kirad says:

    Thanks solved my problem .

  36. Joop van Veelen says:

    Great, thank you!

  37. Kingmr says:

    thanks a lot! finally, I worked it out as what your said.

  38. John says:

    can someone please help me out I have this solution many times, unsuccessfully

  39. sharmila says:

    but what if you want VS10 AS WELL ON YOUR MACHINE. I uninstalled vs10 as you said and then it worked and then again when i install vs10 it does the same.

  40. Bob says:

    Your solution was exactly what I needed. Thanks

  41. mohammad says:

    THANKS
    very thanks
    You are perfect

  42. Celia says:

    You saved the day. This worked great! You do need to uninstall Visual Studio Shell. Repair does not work.

  43. Alen says:

    Thank you for solution. It worked!

  44. cass says:

    thx!!!It works!!!

  45. Josh says:

    Another life saved. Thanks a ton. Wish I found this post 2 weeks ago.

  46. hamed says:

    It is a very good soulotion.Thans a lot

  47. Ishita says:

    All I did was to follow your exact instructions and it worked for me. Thanks!

  48. Kron-El says:

    Thank you so so much!!! I work!!!

  49. Gustavo says:

    It works well!! Saludos desde Argentina.

  50. Asmeyb says:

    thank you it works without any problem

  51. Charles Odoh says:

    Thanks a lot. You made my day. This is a complete solution for that frustrating problem

  52. Jagan says:

    Thank you so much…. working perfectly.

  53. Ankita says:

    Thanks for your help! I have spent so much time and this solution works for me.

  54. Isasbel says:

    ¡Gracias! Finalmente la solución.

  55. Selçuk says:

    Thank you so much 🙂

  56. Kevin Pence says:

    I gave a lout “WHOOP!” and threw my arms over my head when this worked for me. I had spent a day and a half messing with installers, registry data, etc. I got some strange looks around the office, and someone asked me if I had won the lottery. Yes! Yes, I have.
    Thank you very much!

  57. Prasad says:

    What a perfect fix! Thanks for saving lot of time I would have wasted to reinstall my SQL instance.

  58. Rumman says:

    THankyou i have been trying to fix this problem from last 48 hours but couldn’t. Thanks to you it fixed my problem in no time.Godbless you

  59. Milo says:

    I tried reinstall several times. This is working perfect

    Thanks a lot

  60. Tammy says:

    Thank you SO much for sharing this. Just installing the VS2010 Shell component was all I needed to do to fix my issue. You saved me much time and stress. 🙂

  61. kalwavikas says:

    Hi Can any one please mention what exactly the shell he is talking about?

  62. NIck says:

    Wish I’d found this thread earlier… spent 2 days trying to fix in various way…

    this is a perfect 10 minute fix.

    thanks for sharing.. now I can continue my sql training program 🙂

  63. Attila Molnár says:

    Now is 2/28/2016 and your solution works! Thanks for your endurance and for thinking of us.

  64. Iván Sánchez says:

    It works for me! thanks a lot.

  65. Marianne Romo says:

    Disculpen.. a mi no me ha funcionado y ya hice todo lo que dice en este post..
    Alguien puede ayudarme

  66. Phaderm Nangsue says:

    Works perfectly.

  67. joni says:

    thank you very much

  68. Erick Garcia says:

    thanks men, you are the MAN!!!!

  69. Andres says:

    Woooow! It works fine!

  70. Millie Moo says:

    You’ve save my day too. Thank you so much. 🙂 Amazing!

  71. Many Thanks! this solution really helped!

  72. Garry says:

    Thank you, after several days and doing what everyone else listed they did, several times, also downloaded the 2013 shell, because I do own vs2013 pro…that didnt work either, your solution worked an although I’m not totally up and running, since I did go from 2012 to 2014 so now to find my server name and password, lol, at least I’m this far..thanks again

  73. Nipun says:

    Thanks man you saved my day.

  74. Jayaramaraja says:

    Thanks Brother. It works fine.

  75. Kelele says:

    Great. Thanks. Works Like Magic. but i believe when repairing the SQL SERVER, it should automatically uninstall vss2010 shell because i tried to repair it many times but it doesnt work.
    any ways thanks agian

  76. vinod reddy says:

    very very thanks, because you solved my problem that’s what i struggled for 2 days and your solution is very simple.

  77. taind says:

    thanks you

  78. fereshte says:

    It doesnt work for me 🙁

  79. vinod says:

    You are toooo much good sir. Thank you

  80. Dmitriy Dmitriev says:

    It works! Thank you!

  81. Odin says:

    May all the Gods from Asgard and Walhalla watch for health and strenght on You forever for this!
    It F**?^*G worked!

  82. Niraj says:

    It work perfectly.. 100%. download VSIsoShell.exe and run this exe….. after installation run sql 2012.

  83. RAFAEL GALLARDO says:

    Thanks a lot! It works for me too.

  84. Frank Franklin says:

    Infact, this is magic. You have really pulled me out of a mess. It worked like a charm. Thank you very much for the useful information

  85. Michelle Lin says:

    I did all your mention steps over 5 times, but it still did not work. Then I checked the properties(“Run this program in compatibility mode” and “Run this program as Administrator”) of SSMS.exe and ran SSMS.exe for 2 times. It still did not work. Finally, I unchecked the properties(“Run this program in compatibility mode” and “Run this program as Administrator”) of SSMS.exe and ran SSMS.exe again. It suddenly worked!

  86. greenny says:

    Thanks a lot. it works very well. i’ve been blocked for a couple of days. Thanks!

  87. kresna says:

    Can someone help me, thats not work to me. Me use Windows 10 and VS 2015. Please help..

    Thanks

  88. chalew says:

    Thank you so much

  89. Andre Gouws says:

    After many other attempts installing VS 2010 shell solved my MS 2012. Thanks a lot.

  90. Manivannan G says:

    Its really helpful to fix my issue.Thnks

  91. Ashusen says:

    Thanks man, it is really help me to re open my sql server management studio …………………. keep it up ……. for good information.

  92. Weijia says:

    According to your solution, I first tried to uninstall the visual studio 2010 shell, but I still met problem running the Management studio installer. I tried to reinstall the visual studio 2010 shell again, finally it work for me.
    Thanks a lot!

  93. Chetan Mahajan says:

    Great article!! It worked for me, thanks!

  94. anbu says:

    You saved my day. Thank you.

  95. Mohit says:

    Thanks! Your Solution worked for meh !1

  96. Atwood says:

    water to the thirsty!!!

  97. peter says:

    This works. All i had to do was install Visual Studio 2010 shell from the link in the original post. I must have deleted while doing maintenance on my laptop. i removed any old SQL Server installations and when i saw VS2010 I assume it was associated with Visual Studio 10 and deleted it. Just re-install and you’re good.

  98. AN Rawal says:

    It works! Thank you!

  99. duni says:

    it works for me ,thank you very much

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