Why does SQL Server Management Studio hang (Not Responding) when connecting to Amazon RDS? When I use SSMS to connect to a database hosted on Amazon RDS, the IDE hangs (as in goes to "Not Responding) after login. I enter SQL Authentication credentials and click Connect and the login window closes as it would for successful authentication. From there I get the "wait" cursor spinning indefinitely and the window status eventually changes to "Not Responding." The only thing I can do from there is force the application to close.


I have checked logs through Event Viewer and there are no entries for the 5 minutes before or after the error.
I can connect to local SQL Server databases with no errors or problems
I have been able to connect to this database within the past month through SSMS using the same credentials
I can connect to this database now using Visual Studio's IDE using the same credentials
SSMS version is 11.0.3128.0
Sounds like the connection is successful but SSMS is having trouble loading metadata to populate Object Explorer. I would try opening SSMS without connecting to this server, open an empty query window, disable IntelliSense, and then change that query window's connection.

Also your copy of SSMS is quite old, I would strongly consider applying SP3 + CU1 to your workstation, or moving up to 2014 SP1 or even the new monthly previews. I don't know what build RDS is on, but you should always strive to have SSMS >= the highest version of server you have to manage.