If you're trying to connect to a SQL Server 2005 database instance, where you only have permissions to access one (or at least not all) database, you don't have any problems if you're using SQL Server Management Studio 2005. All databases are listed and you could only those open which you have permissions for.
But if you're using Management Studio 2008, this try will result in an error message like this (German):
Fehler beim Abrufen von Daten für diese Anforderung. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Sdk.Sfc) [...] Der Serverprinzipal "xyz6" kann unter dem aktuellen Sicherheitskontext nicht auf die "xyz1"-Datenbank zugreifen. (Microsoft SQL Server, Fehler: 916)
(English: "The server principal "xyz6" is not able to access the database "xyz1" under the current security context.")
Aaron Bertrand ran into this issue last summer and wrote a detailed article in his blog about it (read here). Here is the solution in short:
- Connect to the database
- Open View > Object Explorer Details
- Navigate to databases
- Rightclick the top bar in the details window and deselect "Collation" (German: Sortierung)
- Retry to access the databases list
