You cannot toggle the results pane in SQL Server Management Studio

This article helps you resolve the problem in which you cannot toggle the results pane in SQL Server Management Studio in SQL Server.

Original product version:   SQL Server
Original KB number:   2860024

Symptoms

When you use SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) in SQL Server 2012 or later versions, the ability to toggle the results pane may be missing. Therefore, you will not see the Hide Results Pane shortcut or the Show Results Pane shortcut on the Window menu. Additionally, when you press Ctrl+R, the visibility of the results pane does not toggle.

Screenshot of the Window menu in SQL Server Management Studio.

Note

When you press Ctrl+R, you receive the following message in the status bar:

(Ctrl+R) was pressed. Waiting for second key of chord...

Cause

This issue occurs because the .vssettings file for SSMS is corrupted.

Note

By default, this file is named NewSettings.vssettings and is located in the following folder:

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\SQL Server Management Studio\Settings\SQL Server Management Studio

Note: For SSMS 18.x versions, the .vssetting file is located in the following folder:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\18.0_IsoShell\Settings\SQL Server Management Studio

Workaround

To work around this issue, reset the default keyboard-mapping scheme. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Open SQL Server Management Studio.
  2. On the menu bar, click Tools, and then click Options.
  3. In the tree-view pane on the left side of the dialog box, click Keyboard.
  4. Click Reset to reset the default keyboard-mapping scheme.
  5. In the dialog box that appears, click Yes.
  6. Click OK.

Screenshot of the Keyboard settings in Options of SQL Server Management Studio.