Creating a database diagram crashes SSMS with a memory corruption error

4k Views Asked by Asp.net MVC At 18 April 2025 at 10:00

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?

There are 1 best solutions below

Shiva On 24 January 2014 at 04:26

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.