I received a query from one of the community members, before discussing his query I would like to discuss his environment first. He is working in an environment where multiple users shares the same machines and the same credentials to work on SQL Server Management Studio 2005. He asked me, if I could help him to remove the recent files activity from the menu, to restrict any other user from viewing his activities.
Given below is the screen image in SQL server 2005 with the recent files history.
I started searching the solution in SSMS and found few solutions :
Solution 1
You need to go to Tools \ Options \ Environment \ General
Here you can change the display files in recently used list from 10 (By default it is 10) to 1.
There are two issues with this solution :
- You cannot make it 0.
- If you make it 10 again, it will show you the history again.
Solution 2
You can delete the recent file activity history through registry. Open the registry via “regedit.exe” and go to the given below path with respect to the SQL Server version you are using and delete the key related to your files as shown in below image.
SQL SERVER 2005
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Shell\FileMRUList
SQL SERVER 2008
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Shell\FileMRUList
SQL Server 2012
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\11.0\FileMRUList
After that close the SSMS and open it again, there will be no recent files activities.
Let me know if you know a better solution.