Internals Viewer

Internals Viewer is a visualisation tool for viewing the internals of the SQL Server Storage Engine.

Internals Viewer Medium Articles

Version 4.4 - New Features

• Columnstore View
• Query
  • Tracing
    • Simulation of operators that can be stepped through
  • Row Mode and Batch Mode
  • Columnstore Index Scan operator
  • Call stack
    • Member listing and Symbols browsing
    • WinDbg integration
  • Execution Plan
    • Additional operator properties
    • Operator annotations
• Allocations
  • Improvements to allocation and partitions display
• Page View
  • Various bug fixes
• Index View
  • Levels overlay (root, intermediate, leaf)

Installation

Microsoft Store

The easiest way to install and receive automatic updates is to use the Microsoft Store.

Click this link or search for Internals Viewer in the Microsoft Store:

Manual Installation

The releases on GitHub are built from its source code.

The application is packaged as an .msix file. Windows will only install a package that has been signed. The version from the Microsoft Store is signed with a Microsoft certificate as it has been through a verification process.

The version on GitHub uses a self-signing certificate that needs to be installed first before the application is installed.

The script Install.ps1 installs the certificate and then installs the .msix package.

Steps:

1. Download the latest release artifacts from Releases
2. Extract the files to a folder and navigate to \internals-viewer-msix-platform\artifacts\msix-package-platform\InternalsViewer.UI.App_version\
3. Run powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File Install.ps1
4. You will be prompted to install the certificate. Accept prompts to continue.

Compatibility

• Windows 10 version 17763.0 or higher
• Tested on SQL Server 2019 - 2025

Technologies

• C#
• .NET 10.0
• Windows App SDK (WinUI 3)

Advisory

Use caution when running on any database. Internals Viewer does not make any modifications to a database, but it is not advisable to run on production servers due to the I/O overhead and risk of some functions.

Use caution with the Query tracing as the default Clear Buffer Pool will run DBCC FREEPROCCACHE before executing a query.

Usage

Connecting to a database

Internals Viewer can either connect to a live database or an offline .MDF file.

SQL Server

The sysadmin role is required.

Set the instance name, authentication type, User Id and Password if required for the authentication type, select the database to connect to and click Connect.