Sql-server – Disable SQL Server 2012 Management Studio remote access

Yes, you can install Management Studio (or Management Studio Express) on a workstation that doesn't have SQL Server services. Just pick Management Tools - Complete and Management Tools - Basic during setup. You should be able to do this with any edition of SQL Server you have except for the most basic Express editions - just be aware that technically you need to possess at least one license when using it to manage production instances (though that may have loosened up over the years).

If you don't have an edition of SQL Server that comes with client tools, or you don't have a license to use the full version of Management Studio, you can always download Management Studio Express. @Bummi recommended the RTM release of SQL Server 2012 Express, but the Service Pack 2 version is a better option - since it provides a full version of Management Studio that no longer has feature limitations or licensing requirements:

• http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43351

I have more thorough download/install instructions in this answer:

• https://dba.stackexchange.com/a/73919/1186

The list you're talking about wouldn't be present in Object Explorer (unless you connected to all of them manually every time you started Management Studio). Your active connections will disappear from Object Explorer when you close down SSMS or reboot, so you can't persist them there (as convenient as that might be).

What you might be talking about, though, is Registered Servers, which you might have inadvertently closed before closing SSMS last (it should pop up again if it was active when you shut down SSMS or rebooted). If it's missing, no problem, you can restore this panel using View > Registered Servers or through the key combination Ctrl+Alt+G.

If your servers still don't show up there, it's possible that you lost your registered server configuration due to a roaming profile, logging in as a different user, or messing with SqlStudio.bin.