Connect to SQL Server 2012 from an Windows XP client

We have an SQL Server 2012 Standard database, to connect to it we use SQL Server 2008 Management Studio (since 2012 SSMS is not supported on Windows XP).
The problem is that SQL Server 2008 gives all the time an exception (Index outside the bounds of the array) and it's not possible to edit table in visual editor or open table. Client can work now only with database objects through queries.

So the question is - is there any solution on Windows XP to work properly with 2012 database ?

The version of Management Studio you should be using is SQL Server 2012. Sadly - as you've confirmed - this is not supported on Windows XP. I don't think this is a wholly artificial restriction - I think even if you could figure out some way to hack the 2012 tools into installing, you'd have other behavioral issues to deal with.

So, you have a couple of options (and I understand that these may or may not be practical):

• Upgrade to a new version of Windows (and if you need XP for compatibility reasons, use XP mode). You won't get a whole lot of sympathy from Microsoft running a 10-year old operating system.

• Remote to the SQL Server 2012 machine and use its copy of Management Studio.

• Deal with / ignore the exception (though you may be missing other functionality too).

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#47402, answer score: 9