I have installed Visual Studio on Windows server 2012 and now I'm trying to debug an existing project. This gives me 'Error while trying to run project - access denied'
I have now problems running the project without debugging.
I have restarted Studio and no files are read-only
Found the solution enable 'use managed compatibility mode' in the debugging>general section of VS2017 options. found here:https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/49763/access-denied-when-attempting-to-run-under-the-deb.html
Access Denied errors can occur if a file has an unresolved lock on it. This can happen whether or not your file, typically the executable that you just compiled, is read-only or not.
The easiest way to clear a lock like that is to reboot your system. Or if you're unwilling to reboot or you just want to make one file available again, you could use a tool such as Process Explorer to find the process that is using the file, and either close the program or kill that process.
What fixed it for me (Running VS2019 + Win10) was adding my source folder to the exclusion from Windows Defender Threat Protection.
Found the solution was to DISABLE 'use managed compatibility mode' in the debugging>general section of VS2019 options.
Windows Registry Editor
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"EnableLinkedConnections"=dword:00000001
This will solve the problem
I downloaded the full ISO for Visual Studio Ultimate CTP 6. The installation program got to about the 90% mark, gauging by the progress bar, and just stuck there. There was frequent activity from Superfetch, Anti-malware protection, and other background processes, but the progress bar was dead still. Eventually the background task activity subsided after 20 minutes, but the progress bar still wouldn't budge.
CHEAP TRICK: Open a notepad window and position the left edge of it so it perfectly marks the current position of the progress bar. If it the progress bar doesn't move past the left edge of the notepad window in about an hour, it's probably stuck.
This was a case of one of the sub-installers getting stuck during the install and never completing. Unfortunately when this happens, it looks like the master installer never times out the operation. The trick is to open up the Task Manager in detail mode, and look for a sub-installer process that is showing 0% CPU usage and 0% disk usage, indicating it has died. Then just kill that process and the master installation will resume. In my case, the name of the sub-installer was SecondaryInstaller.exe and according to the installation log it happened while it was trying to install some Android SDK components for the cross platform development modules. It had frozen permanently. I killed it and the master installer completed. When I ran Visual Studio it was fine, although I'm guessing I'll have to do some digging on the Android components install problem.
I temporarily disabled my antivirus (AVG) and restarted the install. That fixed it.
The current version of AVG Free antivirus is incompatible with Microsoft Visual Studio 2015.
It does not allow Visual Studio to be installed on the computer. It gets stuck at "Creating restore point". Visual Studio installs perfectly when AVG is turned off.
Any code compiled in "Release" mode targeting x86 platform/environment (in project properties) does not compile. It compiles successfully when AVG is turned off.
I posted the issues in AVG support forum but no one responded.
Same thing happened to me, and I also tried to terminate secondary process from task manager. Do not do that. It is not a solution, but rather a hack which may cause issues later. In my case, I was not even able to uninstall Visual Studio. I tried both web installation and ISO, same issue.
Here is how it worked finally. I restored my Windows 7 to earliest restore point as possible, when there was nothing installed, so I was sure that there would be no conflicts between the different tools (Java, Android API, etc.)
I started the installation of Visual Studio 2015 Community Release Candidate at 10 p.m. At 7 a.m., it was working on Android API 19-21. A hour later, it was finally preparing Visual Studio.
This means that all you need to do is to actually wait 8 to 9 hours. Don't terminate the secondary installer at risk of breaking your Visual Studio; just wait.
During the installation if you think it has hung (notably during the "Android SDK Setup"), browse to your %temp% directory and order by "Date modified" (descending), there should be a bunch of log files created by the installer.
The one for the "Android SDK Setup" will be named "AndroidSDK_SI.log" (or similar).
Open the file and got to the end of it (Ctrl+End), this should indicate the progress of the current file that is being downloaded.
i.e: "(80%, 349 KiB/s, 99 seconds left)"
Reopening the file, again going to the end, you should see further indication that the download has progressed (or you could just track the modified timestamp of the file [in minutes]).
i.e: "(99%, 351 KiB/s, 1 seconds left)"
Unfortunately, the installer doesn't indicate this progress (it's running in a separate "Java.exe" process, used by the Android SDK).
This seems like a rather long-winded way to check what's happening but does give an indication that the installer hasn't hung and is doing something, albeit very slowly.
I had the same problem when I tried to install VS 2015 RC from ISO. It got stuck during Android SDK Setup (API Level 19 & 21, System Images). For me the problem was metered Wi-Fi connection. The installer didn't download necessary files.
Turning off the Internet connection resolved the problem. When installation finished, it said that some components were not installed and it will try to download and install them later.
Check if your Windows has pending updates. After the restart, installation worked as expected.
Alright so after hours of googling and failed attempts at solving this including many of the suggestions above, I found a solution I tried on a whim and worked for me.
Attempt to install the program, then, when it gets "stuck", cancel it, but don't uninstall.
Then, go to the control panel, go to programs, go and attempt to uninstall it, select "Repair" instead of Uninstall.
"Repairing" Visual Studio appears to have completely worked and was very quick, under 5 minutes and everything seems to work fine.
This issue is becoming very now, specially for users installing visual studio on windows 10 platform. What Microsoft suggests is disable your anti virus and anti malware programs and always run setup with admin permission.
But in my case I have to do lot more things to get rid of this issue:
1. Disabled AVG realtime protaction
2. Disabled AVG from task manager
3. Remove all the files and folders from system temp folder. (You can open it by typing %temp% and hit enter in run prompt)
4. Run setup again as admin
Here is a complete list of incidents that I faced in this issue (visual studio 2015 installation got stuck)
And how I resolved it
I got stuck during Android SDK Setup (API Level 19 and 21) Turning OFF and ON the Internet connection resolved the issue and the installation completed successfully.
My VS 2015 install hung after hours of downloading. The VS installer window said it was still proceeding, but Windows Resource Monitor indicated there had been no networ, disk, or CPU usage by the vs_community.exe process tree for dozens of minutes. Windows Process Explorer revealed wusa.exe at the bottom of this tree (wusa is Windows Update Standalone Installer). Tempted to kill wusa.exe, I instead heeded the warnings in other answers to this question.
After studying other answers here (strongly recommended), I made an educated guess and initiated a restart of my Windows 7 Pro. The restart hung because vs_community.exe would not exit. I therefore selected Cancel on Windows' restart popup.
Windows returned to my user session, and now the VS 2015 install came to life(!) Process Explorer revealed wusa.exe no longer present. I therefore suspect that was the roadblock, but my conscience is clean (I didn't kill wusa.exe, Windows did!)
After awhile the installer displayed the following:
When I clicked Restart Now, Windows restarted to a "Configuring Windows" screen, and completed my VS install.
This solution is a safe mix of killing the sub tasks answer and the waiting answer:
when the installer gets stuck, simply launch the task manager and kill the process
if you attempt to run the app again, it will say that the app installation is not complete
run the installer again, and click on repair
installs fine
When stuck on Visual Studio Preparation:
I killed vs_enterprise.exe with higher PID, Visual Studio threw an error, that "pipe is being closed". Restarted PC & Logged in. Visual Studio started automatically and has completed within 1 minute.
A better approach to find whether one of the subinstallers is blocked is to monitor its Network and Disk I/O activity. Process Explorer from Sysinternals does an excellent job. Android SDK Setup downloads large amounts of data (more than 1GB) and the CPU sits idle waiting for an I/O-bound operation to be completed. Under no circumstances you should attempt to kill any process, or you might risk corrupting your installation of Visual Studio. In the worst case scenario, cancelling and rerunning the setup should help.
Mine froze on the Diagnostic Tools for 3 hours. I tried disabling my firewall and turning off internet among many other attempts to resolve this. In the end the following actions allowed the installer to complete and VS2015 Community edition to launch.
I then opened the latest log file in the %temp% folder, and navigated
to the end of the file.
In the last few log lines there was an entry: "MSI (s) (DC:4C)
[16:28:36:577]: Created Custom Action Server with PID xxxx"
I ended the process with the same PID, and then the installer
continued. I had to do it roughly 3 times in total and then the
installer completed successfully.
All seems to be working OK so far (fingers crossed!!)
For Windows10:
1) Kill VS2015 Process if hung
2) Disable Windows Defender
3) Open VS2015 as Administrator
4) Enable Windows Defender
5) Initial VS2015 startup is complete
I have similar problems, my savior became Windows Safe Mode
STEPS:
Restart Windows in Safe Mode (*run msconfig -> boot -> boot options -> check safe boot -> mode Network)
In Safe Mode:
Enable Windows Installer:
REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"
Start Windows Installer service:
net start msiserver
Run Visual Studio Updater / Installer
Restart in normal mode (run msconfig -> boot -> boot options -> uncheck safe boot)
I had an issue with the Visual Studio Update 3 installer getting stuck on the "Features" tab at ther very start of installation...it would show only "Update 2 (installed)" and nothing else, with no way to proceed.
After trying some of the other more complex advice here, it turned out, to my surprise, that all I needed to do was use "Run as Administrator" when kicking off the installer. I was under the impression MSI generally runs with Admin privileges (under the Trusted Installer service) but I suppose the VS bootstrapper in this case does not.
I had the same issue. It would hang immediately, as soon as it said "Applying Microsoft Visual Studio 2015." There was only a small sliver in the progress bar. I even let the install run overnight. There was no disk activity or CPU usage from the installer.
What finally worked was to kill the process in Task Manager and restart the computer. As soon as I rebooted, the installer opened up automatically and completed successfully.
In my case the Graphics Tools Windows feature installation was hanging forever.
I've installed the Optional Windows Feature manually and restarted the setup of VS 2015.
I just installed VS 2015 Enterprise on Windows Server 2012 R2. The install was fast until it reached Update 1 which is past the 90% mark on the progress indicator. At that point, it took about 2 hours to complete. Be patient before you try anything more radical.
Mine got stuck applying the .NET 4.6.1 blah... Turning off the internet and disabling Microsoft Security Essentials Real-time protection got things moving again.
Well, I cant find any SecondaryInstaller.exe to stop in task manager and even I dont have any AV rather then Windows Defender so I found something else..
I stopped windows Update from elevated cmd by writing command net stop muauserv and it worked for me...
The update will Retry again for KB2664825 so run the code again in cmd..(because the service starts automatically)
Keep trying and its done for me...!!
I had the same problem on a different context. After trying to repair, uninstall, and reinstall with no solution, I decided to wipe out all Visual Studio remnant by using TotalUninstaller by follower the steps by steps on the link below:
https://github.com/Microsoft/VisualStudioUninstaller/releases
Once everything is removed, I was able to successfully install the software.
Be aware that TotalUninstaller will remove everything related to Visual Studio 2013 to 2015. Earlier version will still be preserved.
I added this solution in case someone has the exact same problem.
I've got same problem and unfortunately the accepted answer which suggests killing SecondaryInstaller.exe messed up installing the optional items. What I've done is basically opening the task manager and locate SecondaryInstaller.exe and right click and click on Open file location. Then run SecondaryInstaller.exe as an administrator.
In my case UAC was disabled (the infamous regedit trick) and so the installer clearly could not handle it.
You could revert back to UAC for the installer, or simply try launching it as admin, it worked for me.
If you are using windows 10, "Windows defender" might be the reason for blocking. mine is hang while installing "Java SE development"
To disable windows defender during the installation phase:
Open Windows Defender by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button. In the search box, type Defender, and then, in the list of results, click Windows Defender.
Click Settings, and turn off Real-time protection.
I have experienced similar problems with Visual Studio 2015 Update 3.
In my case core issue was corrupted windows installer cache (C:\Windows\Installer)
Here is the line from msi installer log:
MSI (s) (4C:64) [10:40:10:059]: Warning: Local cached package 'C:\WINDOWS\Installer\3442502.msi' is missing.
You should check installation logs if installation cache is corrupted same way.
If it is you should pray for sfc utility to recover system integrity or you would reinstall windows from scratch as corrupted windows installer cache is a complete disaster and a reason to perform clear windows installation immediately.
I had a similar problem. My solution was to switch off the antivirus software (Avast), download the .iso file, mount it (double click in the Windows Explorer on the .iso file), and then run it from the PowerShell with admin rights with the following switches:
.\vs_community.exe /NoWeb /NoRefresh
This way you don't have to go offline or remove your existing installation.
For me it helped to stop the installation service forcefully using task manager. If Visual Studio was installed in Features & Programs then uninstall it, restart computer and try to install it again.
When starting the installation make sure to be have reliable internet connection
Yes, I know... I could set up a virtual machine running XP. Unfortunately our build environment is such that we need to be running VC2003, 2005 and 2008 concurrently and it would be much more convenient if I could run 2003 natively on Windows 7 for the few projects we have that require it.
I realize some things may not be available in the IDE, but I was able to run 2003 under windows Vista and if I could get the same base level of functionality under Windows 7 I would be extremely happy.
Right now I get an error opening the *.pdb file when I compile after switching vc2003 to run as Administrator under compatibility mode for XP SP 2.
Thanks!
Give XP Mode a try if you can't get it to run natively.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx
I wrote a blog entry about this a while back that you can check out - http://technikhil.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/visual-studio-2003-and-windows-7-can-get-along-really/
The only thing I am stuck on right now is the global search functionality of VS 2003 - it hangs the application. My workaround is to use windows 7 search :-). Other than that - so far so good...
Update: I got the search to work as well by disabling the Aero functionality - I have updated my blog post with the details...
(Much of this repeats what's already been written above.)
I need to run VS2003 as adminstrator under Win7 64-bit, to support legacy projects (e.g. those that run on the original Xbox). The old XDK requires VS2003, so upgrading is not an option. I could run WinXP but I prefer Win7.
VS2003 is not officially supported under Win7 and trying to do so creates a couple of fairly annoying problems:
Find-in-files causes VS2003 to hang.
Linking fails due to a PDB file handle leak.
The Find-in-files hang is solved by using "Disable visual themes". Navigate to the VS2003 shortcut (Start-->Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003), right-click to get context menu, select Compatibility tab, Settings pane, and check "Disable visual themes".
The linker failure (LNK1201) happens when you run the program through the debugger, stop it, modify a file and build. The error is that a Visual Studio hold a handle to the PDB file, while the linker tries to write to that file. You can stop and restart VS2003 to bypass the issue. Works but is annoying.
You can also use the Microsoft SysInternals "handle.exe" utility to find, then close handles held by a process on a particular file. Write a script to call handle.exe and set up the VS2003 project to run that script as a Pre-Build Event. (See this thread.) But handle.exe requires running as admin.
You could hypothetically change handle.exe to run as admin using the usual steps (e.g. as a compatibility setting) but then handle.exe (apparently) runs in a nested shell, and then the stdout text does not get to the calling script.
You can make VS2003 run as admin, in which case the Pre-Build script also runs as admin, hence does handle.exe, and that works.
The remaining trick is to get VS2003 SLN files to open properly. If you simply make VS2003 run as admin automatically then the VS version selector fails to run VS2003. I don't know why, but it is the case.
You could associate SLN files to open using VS2003 devenv.exe instead of VSLauncher.exe. That works but then all new SLN files (2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, ...) fail to open.
So the final step then is to make VSLauncher.exe run as admin. This fails as of KB2492386 as this thread indicates. Uninstalling that update was the final step in this saga, to get everything to work.
PATCH NOW AVAILABLE
After some reverse-engineering, I found the incorrectly refcounted COM object responsible for the leak (it was off by 1) and developed a stable patch and corresponding article describing the fix. This addresses problems encountered while using Windows 7 thru Windows 10. Details and download available at:
http://bytepointer.com/articles/vs7.1_2003_on_win7_pdb_handle_leak_bug_unofficial_fix.htm
If you want to perform the patch manually, those details are also included.
NOTE: The SysInternals Handle tool workaround did not work for files on a network-share. The .PDB was not completely unlocked although the Handle tool claimed it was closed. My fix eliminates the problem once and for all and avoids any side effects.
Run this install. You need to run it from the setup directory, the setup.exe on the root of the cd will not work.
D:\setup\SetUp.exe /NO_BSLN_CHECK
Solution i found on the web which helped: For your visual studio, use application compatibility = windows vista SP2, and NOT WinXP SP3
I have a really dirty and pathetic workaround for the pdb problem.
Download and run Sysinternals-ProceXP, press CTRL-F enter the name of pdb(smt like ($ProjectName).pdb) that can't be created while linking. Double click when it is found.(if it can't be found run procexp with administrator priviliges)
Then you will see that the .pdb file is highlighted in the lower pane of the main screen. Right click it and select Close Handle. When you retry building your solution it wont raise an error.
I dont know if this solution can be scripted but it is at least better than restarting visual studio.
I've been using Visual studio 2003 on win7 since the very first RC edition was released :S
why do people have issues?
I have attempted to install VS2003 on Windows 7 64-bit using the Virtual Windows XP feature. I'm reasonably certain that this will be successful. The issue I ran into is that the installer wants IIS installed, and the XP installation provided by the Virtual XP doesn't have that enabled by default.
If you go to Add/Remove components, and try to add it, it will ask for the disc, which I didn't have on hand. Once I get my hands on the disc, I'm pretty sure that it will run fine.
If you haven't tried it for other apps, the Virtual XP feature is really neat...
I am experiencing the same issue; devenv.exe is leaving pdb files open after running the project. I have made a batch file to work around it, it closes all .pdb files open by devenv.exe:
handle.exe .pdb | awk "/devenv.exe/ { split($4, fd, \":\"); system(\"handle.exe -c \" fd[1] \" -y -p \" $3)}"
You will need to have handle.exe by sysinternals and awk by gnu in your path to make it work.
Use at your own risk. Closing handles can cause application or system instability.
In windows 7, there is the compatabiliy mode in the executable properties.
open:C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Common7\IDE\
then right click on the devenv.exe and select properties. In the compatability tab, select the "Run in compatability mode" and select "Windows XP" in the dropdown.
Try that, I am not sure if it works, but it is worth a shot.
I am having no problems with Visual Studio 2003 on Windows 7 64-bit.
Navigate to VS2003 devenv.exe (probably C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe)
Right-click and select Properties
In the Compatibility tab, check "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" and select "Windows XP (Service Pack 3)"
Check "Run this program as administrator"
I got Visual Studio .NET 2003 Working just fine on my HP EliteBook Workstation 8760W with an I7 processor and 12GB of RAM running Windows 7 Professional 64 bit by doing some advanced steps.
They go as follows:
Install FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions for IIS 7.0.
Install Visual Studio .Net 2003. Just skip when the installer command you to configure Frontpage 2002 Server Extensions.
Install .Net Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1 (download here).
Go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. Highlight your machine, then double-click on ISAPI and CGI Restrictions. Change setting for ASP .NET v1.1.4322 to Allowed.
Then it will always show an alert with the following message
This program has compatibility issues...
just ignore that. Also, don't put it in compatibility mode in the properties of the IDE.
I did managed to install VS2003 on Windows 7 32 bit. However I had to do some IIS tricks in order to be able to run my ASP.NET project. When you install VS2003 Web Development component can't be selected. Basically you have to drop your VS2003 ASP.NET v1.1 into C:\inetpub\wwwroot\project_name and make it working on it's own as a standalone web portal first. Here is the steps I did.
Install IIS on Windows 7
Copy your VS2003 project to C:\inetpub\wwwroot\project_name. Right click on your project_name and Convert to application.
Following was my custom issue that didn't work until I enabled Windows Authentication even if I had no related settings in my web.config. Select your project_name > Authentication > enable both Anonymous and Windows Authentications.
Enable ASP.NET 1.1 in ISAPI and CGI Restrictions and make sure ASP.NET is added under ISAPI filters
Once I'm able to fire up my ASP.NET project in a browser go ahead and open project from your project location in my case is C:\inetpub\wwwroot\MHSScoreOrg\MHSScoreOrg.sln. I was able to run my project only when it was fully integrated on IIS.
I'm sorry, your build environment requires you to have VC 2003, 2005, AND 2008 running concurrently? I would really bet that your efforts would be better spent simply consolidating your build environment to just one environment.
Have you considered upgrading your solutions to vs2005, using MSBEE to target .net 1.1?