SQL Server Management Studio ignores default DB

When I use SQL Server Management Studio to log in to databases, it ignores my default DB and always puts me in master. I checked that my Windows user has a login with the correct DB set, and I tried changing the default DB of groups that I'm in without any effect. At login, I tried going to Connection Properties and setting "Connect to Database" to <default>, but it always gets reset to master. If I run Management Studio as a different Windows user, it applies default DB correctly.

Any ideas?

Solution 1:

Change the default database of your database user. I suspect that group permissions are snarling you up. You can use the sp_defaultdb stored procedure.

Exec sp_defaultdb @loginame='login', @defdb='database'

Or you could use this bit of SQL:

ALTER LOGIN  [DOMAIN\login] 
WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE = master

Solution 2:

It was just an issue with one account, so I now run Management Studio through a different account, using a BAT file with the following:

runas /profile /savecred /user:DOMAIN-NT\service-account "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\VSShell\Common7\IDE\Ssms.exe"