How to fix - Lock request timeout period exceedd Error 1222

Question: I'm on SSMS and trying to access the SQL Server instance but I'm getting this error:

Lock request timeout period exceedd Error 1222

Normally I can access the server and there haven't been any security changes. What could be causing this problem?

Answer: The basis of the Error 1222 is that a transactions is holding a lock on the target resource for a longer period than the query could wait for.

There are different situations that can trigger the error message.

Example 1 : Someone running a transaction with a BEGIN TRAN but no ROLLBACK or COMMIT. The transaction could be locking the system tables.

The quickest way to sort out the issue is to identify the active transaction details.

In the SQL Server Management Studio, to find out details of the active transaction, execute following command

DBCC opentran()

for more details read:

 SQL Server - SQL open transactions and how to find

SQL Server - How to find Open Transactions

If you think you're creating the issue through a transaction executed through the SSMS, you could shut the SSMS. Slightly drastic , but it will normally solve your problem