I have been trying to install Visual Studio for a couple of days now and none have operated. First I tried Visual Studio Community 2017 and the installer was installed and then the vs was installed but when I try and run it I got an error message that directed me to the ActivityLog file. I've tried uninstalling it then reinstalling it but that didn't work. I came across a solution that required me to try opening it using the Developer Command Prompt which I wanted to do but when I clicked on it from the Start menu it said that the link is missing. There was another Visual Studio program that had also installed and when I tried loading that one, it also directed me an ActivityLog file.
So I uninstalled the 2017 version and tried installing an earlier version hoping that it would work. I can reinstall for whomsoever would want to see the error message as well as the log file.
I then tried the 2013 version (since that is the one we use at school anyway). After downloading the file, I do not even get to an installation screen. A pop-up appears that says that the program requires the Microsoft .NET framework to work
Installation pop up window
The first time I tried it gave me options to accept and continue or cancel so I clicked on accept and continue and that was the end of it. Nothing happened after that. Now when I click on the installation file it just appears as in the picture above with no options. I tried to follow the instructions on Cannot install Visual Studio 2017 Community since that is the closet to my problem that I have found but it still didn't work.
Please help. I really need at least one Visual Basic to work.
I have recently installed Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Community Edition on my laptop.
Since the time of installation I have been facing a few issues.
I was not able to even access the New Project option itself.
Some of the times I will be able to access it however, sometimes it does not even allow me to access a single file of my solution in the startup itself it gives me an error.
I have attached a set of five screenshots in this query. There is some blank space after users path, I removed an extra folder name(username) from the path so dont get confused with that.
The detail of all the screenshots are as follows:
1) This is the image I get when I launch the Visual Studio on my laptop.
2) Once I click 'NO' option on the first dialog box I get a new one stating an error with the source code.
3) Once that is done, I move onto Solution Explorer to access the solution and I get this log.
4) When I try to access the tools tab to check for options I get this error message.
5) I had even tried to create a new project and the following error provided in this screenshot would appear.
I am not able to understand where I could have gone wrong or what happened that has corrupted the application to this extent. Is it an installation issue or are there some bugs in this version of Visual Studio, if there are any I would be more than happy to move to previous versions as I was a lot happier with them than this one.
If someone would help on this concern I would be really thankful.
Regards,
Harrisson
First, I went ahead and uninstalled the current version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 from my system. Then, I searched and removed the data from the temporary files related to MS VS 2015 from the following paths:
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio
Once this had been done, I went ahead and installed Visual Studio 2015. After installation, I installed the additional support directories for Visual C++. You can do the same for the platform you wish to work on.
Then I installed updates from the following link:
https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/news/releasenotes/vs2015-update3-vs
Once I started the solution it worked perfectly fine after that with no errors.
Env: Visual Studio 2015 Community Edition on Windows 8
Trying to open Tools --> Extensions and Updates results in the following error in a message box:
Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index
Tried running as Admin, same result.
I've tried looking at the log but nothing mentions that error.
In the log there are 3 error entries related to extensions which could be related, they say the following:
Error loading extension: Could not find a part of the path 'C:\path\to\APPDATA\LOCAL\MICROSOFT\VISUALSTUDIO\14.0\EXTENSIONS\ZW2UF5JV.JVN\extension.vsixmanifest'.
The other 2 are identical except the odd string at the end is HQ1Y5EQD.TMG and 3KWE1LJF.Z1W.
Interestingly, just before those errors in the log appear, there is a line for each saying the extension was loaded successfully but if I try to go to the path it's got listed, it doesn't exist.
I can't find any reference to those strings on my machine. I've also searched the registry but can't find any reference in there either.
I can get into the Extensions manager if I click on one of the update notifications but the original error message just displays in the main pane and I can't do anything else. I can get to the online window but as soon as I click an extension, I am prompted with the original message.
I haven't installed any extensions or VS updates for a while but my Web Compiler extension extension has stopped auto compiling JSX files which is why I started trying to look at the Extension manager. I'm guessing the issues are related.
I can still work, compiling can be done manually which is inconvenient but not the end of the world. My worry is some other extensions are also misbehaving and I just haven't noticed yet.
Don't really want to re-install VS as a) it took ages last time and b) it might not fix the issue. Is there any good advice on troubleshooting the error or anything else I can try before I re-install?
I refreshed the GitHub extension on VS 2015 and got this error. Deleting the two cache files:
extensions.en-US.cache
extensionSdks.en-US.cache
from the AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\Extensions causes them to be rebuilt and eliminates the error.
No reinstall needed.
Problem got worse, I started getting the error message when starting Visual Studio and things like the package manager wouldn't load. Each restart seemed to yield a different combination of windows not loading, sometimes Solution Explorer, sometimes Team Explorer etc. Not good.
A repair to VS 2015 via the Control Panel took a while but didn't help, same problems.
I ended up completely uninstalling and trying to re-install. However the installer threw an index was out of range error but weirdly VS 2015 was now listed as an installed application again.
So I'm guessing the original uninstall left some problematic files lying around which messed up the next install. So I uninstalled again, renamed Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0 folder, cleared all files from AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\Extensions and re-installed.
It installed and ran fine.
The problem I now had was that I couldn't find the SQL Server Object Explorer window anywhere. I tried repairing SQL Server Data Tools but still no luck. So I uninstalled SSDT and then re-installed. This seemed to fix it.
Now I realised I also couldn't connect to Azure through the Server Explorer window, the option was simply not appearing in the list like it used to. This time a repair to Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 - v2.9 and a repair to Azure App Service Tools v2.9 - Visual Studio 2015 fixed that problem.
I confronted same issue and found this thread. I tried the above suggestions, but unfortunately, it went all unsuccessful. I even tried to uninstall/install with even worse result as Visual Studio became unable to start due to new "missing components" issue. Reinstallation was nothing better.
I finally came by a piece of magic. It was Visual Studio Uninstaller which although would remove all your installed extensions, it would perform a complete cleanup. It would save you from installing new Windows (at least it was my case.
Just go to releases and download the first zip file
This way you will be able to perform clean install of Visual Studio.
Now I have some big problems with installing Visual Studio Community.
These problems came when I got back to Windows 7 from Win10 (because I had some problems).
When I launched the actual Visual Studio for the first time on Win7, it loaded good, but I didn't have any templates. So I decided to reinstall it.
Uninstall went good, but when I tried to install it again, it just stopped at Microsoft Visual Studio Hub Services or something like that. It just really stopped, when I let it go, the progress bar never moved. Then it also said that it couldn't find it or something similar.
And then the fun starts. I tried to do it several times, same. Then I downloaded the Visual Studio 2013 Community, and it stopped on Build x86. Same like the Hub Services at the 2015 version. I gave up at this moment. But after that, I went angry and removed the all Visual Studio folders in the Program Files.
But later on, I found the Visual Studio 2015 Express for Desktop, I downloaded it and that time it said right at the beginning: A Prerelease version of Visual Studio Community is currently installed. Please uninstall it prior to proceeding with your current installation.
I listened to it, went to Remove and Add Programs thing (don't know what name is it in english) and yeah, there was a version of that Visual Studio I removed. I tried to uninstall it, but it just said something again: The installation source for this product is not available. Make sure that the source exists and that you can access it.. And that's basically all.
So I would like to ask, how to fix this thing. It's because of that movement from Win10 to Win7? Or because of the VS folder deletement in Program Files? Any answers are very welcome!
EDIT: Main problem is that it stops at Microsoft Visual Studio Hub Services, I managed to uninstall the 2015 Community version, but then it stops and just didn't move, the only way was to remove the process to shut down the installing window and cancel the installing.
EDIT 2: Well, kinda shy of my grammar back then, fixed some bigger mistakes.
When Visual studio is installed, several other programs get installed. So when you try to uninstall visual studio, you should uninstall all other bunch of programs which were installed along with actual visual studio(which is a bit burden). It take so much time for me to uninstall all the programs from my computer. So while re installing please make sure you uninstall all the other installed apps also.
[EDIT: you may want to scroll to the bottom for the nuclear option which I wish I'd discovered earlier!]
I've downgraded two computers from Windows 10 to 7, both with VS2015 on them. One worked and the other had its VS2015 break horribly. I also deleted the VS2015 directory and registry data that mentioned VS2015 and all sorts, and I had even more problems than you describe :) I think the difference is that I installed some new things (node.js and TypeScript) under Windows 10, and they inserted things into VS2015 which were no longer properly installed after the downgrade.
Here are my discoveries in a hopefully useful order:
When it hangs, what it's actually doing is trying to display this prompt asking you to supply the path to an installer it couldn't find.
You usually get to see these prompts if you 'Run as Administrator' the (main) installer (rather than letting it obtain Administrator privileges itself). Process Explorer helps shed light on this: if the main installer's window is associated with the child process, then the dialogues are visible. If the root process, they're not.
The prompt relates to old versions of packages that the installer wants to uninstall prior to installing a new one, and for some reason the installer doesn't know how to re-download those packages. It is usually looking under C:\ProgramData\Package Cache for them.
If you aren't seeing the dialogue, you can view logs in C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\Temp. Use the 'Details' view and sort this folder by date modified, to help you find the right one. Each sub-installer tends to make a new file so you may have to poke around a bit. Changing dates or file sizes also tell you that it's doing something.
Messages like this tend to be associated with the attempt to show a dialogue:
MSI (s) (24:D8) [13:00:25:033]: SOURCEMGMT: Trying source C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\{388D7468-1CCA-40C8-9F08-4C20E972E922}v14.0.25123\packages\BuildTools_MSBuildResMsi_amd64\.
MSI (s) (24:D8) [13:00:25:033]: Note: 1: 2203 2: C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\{388D7468-1CCA-40C8-9F08-4C20E972E922}v14.0.25123\packages\BuildTools_MSBuildResMsi_amd64\BuildTools_MSBuildResMsi.msi 3: -2147287037
MSI (s) (24:D8) [13:00:25:033]: SOURCEMGMT: Source is invalid due to missing/inaccessible package.
So, what to do about these missing packages?
If you have another computer with a working Visual Studio 2015 installation, you can copy the entirety of Package Cache from there to your bad computer (no need to merge folders that already exist) and that will hopefully catch many of them.
For the rest, I tried a few third-party uninstallers, and Revo Uninstaller helped. Go into its settings and enable 'Show System Components'. Then, whenever you identify a problematic package, you'll usually be able to find it in Revo Uninstaller. If you uninstall it, you'll see the usual prompt (cancel it), and after it fails, Revo's 'Moderate' registry cleanup option does the trick ('Safe' didn't). If you use the Pro version then you can multi-select and use the 'Quick Uninstall' batch option, which isn't quite automated - yes, I'm afraid it will be tedious - but with some patience, you can get through everything.
Identifying the problematic packages is still a manual process, but the good news is that you can cancel many of the prompts during a run of the installer without it aborting, so you can collect a lot of package names as you go. You can also look for patterns in version numbers; for me, a lot of them were 14.0.15123` or something like that.
For me, just one package didn't show up in Revo Uninstaller, and I searched the registry myself and deleted some occurrences. I'm not sure if that or the subsequent install of the new package was what did it, but even that one went away.
So, after all that, I'm pleased to report that Visual Studio 2015 has got through the 'Repair' operation with no further errors. I still need to reboot before I can see if it runs without a hitch...
[EDIT: Nuclear option follows]
It didn't. Many of the standard windows (code editor and error list to name a couple) failed to load with the error "An item with the same key has already been added". On the plus side, at least Visual Studio didn't suddenly exit moments after opening. So that's an improvement and 2-3 days well spent :)
After that:
I found this answer and tried the TotalUninstaller linked therein.
Then I deleted more of the installation where that uninstaller reported it couldn't delete a non-empty directory.
Then I was going to reinstall from scratch, but would you believe it - it gave me Modify/Repair/Uninstall options! So I ran the Uninstall. (Maybe Repair would have worked, who knows?)
Then I reinstalled from scratch.
There was just one more failed uninstall of an old thing (Microsoft Web Deploy), but it didn't even report a warning at the end because of it, and now my Visual Studio finally seems to be intact - fingers crossed! (I may never test that web deploy thing anyway - I mainly use it with Unity. Of course I had to install the Unity tools again.)
So yeah. I have no idea if this works by itself or if you also have to do all the other stuff. If you try it and find out, let us know.
Since you are still seeing Visual Studio in Remove and Add Programs, your environment may not be entirely clean and you will have to first completely remove Visual Studio from the system. This should be independent of whether you're using Windows 7 or 10.
You may need to do further research, but here are some initial pointers:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/Aa983433(v=VS.90).aspx
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/mats/program_install_and_uninstall
Beyond trying those things and then re-attempting the install, please look for any logs generated from the failures. For example, in your %temp% folder.
In my case , I just restart the PC and after it boots up the VISUAL STUDIO 2015 will automatic come back and keep running. I did it with 2 PCs of users and with version Professional. Hope this helps.
Note : Please make sure to close all VS running on your PC before running install 2015 (in my case is VS Pro 2013) and make sure Windows updates have finished running (if they have).
Uninstall any version of visual studio 2015 you already might have installed.
Then, delete this key: I had a similiar issue and found finally as cause entries under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\DevDiv\vs\Servicing\14.0. .
For the last 2 days I have had a right pigs ear of a problem that I just have not been able to get past.
Any time I try to debug an Windows 8 store JavaScript app using VS2012 on my laptop I get the following error:
>Unable to start debugging 'C:\Windows\system32\wwahost.exe'.
>
>Microsoft Visual Studio Debugging Monitor (MSCVMON.EXE) failed to
>start. If this problem persists, please repair your Visual Studio
>installation vis 'Add or Remove Programs' in control panel.
This happens when I try to debug locally and in simulator.
This only happens for javascript projects, all other types of projects work fine.
So far the steps I have taken are:
repaired installation
installed update 1
Added all application packages to program files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7Debug on security tab.
uninstalled and re-installed
Nothing has worked.
Interestingly this error is about remote debugging which I am not trying to do, I didn't have remote debugging installed for 2012 but it was installed on my system for VS2008.
I installed it for VS2012 and opened the monitor while I tried to debug and nothing showed in the log.
I did an install using same VS2012 DVD on a fresh win8 desktop installation and it has no issues it all works fine although it did ask me on first run to set the permissions (I cant remember if it did this on my laptop).
I think the problem came when installing on my laptop it asked me if I wanted to import setting from previous versions of Visual Studio and I said yes.
I have done constant internet searching on this topic for last 2 days and some people are saying the problem is caused by VS2012 trying to open some VS2008 files but how to fix this is not clear.
When I uninstalled VS2012 and re-installed it didn't ask me if I wanted to import settings so I think I didn't fully un-install it (it still had a list of my recently accessed projects after the re-install).
Sorry for the long post but this has driven me crazy and I just cannot think of what to try next. Can anyone please help?