How to Change the Browser Used by SSMS for AAD Auth

Did you know that you can change the browser used by SQL Server Management Studio to authenticate using Azure Active Directory to a SQL database in Azure?

I had been experiencing serious delays with the window that pops up to accept my credentials taking 30 seconds or more to populate. I also once got a warning that the browser I was using was old.

I recently learned that I can change the browser used for this purpose in the SSMS settings.

First, make sure you have updated SSMS to the latest version.

Then, go to Tools > Options. Select Azure Services from the menu on the left in the Options dialog. In the Miscellaneous section, you will see a setting titled “UseSystemBrowser”. By default, it will be set to false.

When you set this to true, the window to complete AAD authentication will open in the default browser on your machine. For instance, my default browser is set to Chrome (sorry, Edge 😉). So now my authentication window opens as a browser tab in my existing open Chrome window. Then I can enter my credentials as normal. And changing the browser fixed my issues with the authentication window being slow.