Sometimes it serves a lot of time to just connect to the database using the command prompt, its easy, reliable and fast. In this section, I will outline how to connect to an instance of SQL server and get access to databases on your local machine: Open up a command prompt type: sqlcmd On the same line, type: -S(ServerNameSqlInstanceName) Then you can query: Select * from sys.databases On the next line: Type Go If successfully connected, all the databases will display Then go ahead and choose which database to use by typing: Use "your database" On the next line: If you are using T-sql just to show the tables in that database just type: sp_tables "DatabaseName" (without quotation marks) On the next line, type 'Go' and enter All the tables should display then use the tables you want to query the data. Have fun.