Visual Studio 2010 hangs on attach to process / debugging - visual-studio-2010

Whenever I try to debug a Visual Studio 2010 web project, VS hangs, and ultimately crashes. This happens if I try to start the project using F5, or through Attach to Process, before the process list even appears.
Hitting F5 in, for example, a Windows Form project works fine, but attach to process fails here too.
Any ideas on what can be causing this? Obviously attaching to the devenv.exe process won't work as I can't get the Attach to Process dialog to appear...
Oh, running W7 (x64), VS2010 SP1 (had same problems without SP1)

In Solution Explorer there is a Show All Files icon (highlighted in the photo below):
Make sure it's turned off,
When It's turned on, Visual Studio tries to index all the files in the solution and if you have a giant Solution it could take forever!
I hope this has helped someone :)

Have you recently installed Mono and/or Mono Tools for VS2010?
I found that to be the problem it my case. Not sure why, but it somehow got in the way.
Matthew

In my case hangs when executable type was not correctly set, ex. Managed v4.0 and trying to attach to Native.

Related

Visual Studio JIT Debugger hangs

I've always used System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch() as a quick way to debug web services. I get a dialog asking me to choose a debugger, I pick "New instance of Visual Studio" and it fires up VS and lets me step through the code.
That has suddenly stopped working. Now I get the dialog, and choose Visual Studio, and the VS splash screen appears, and then it just hangs. The dialog window says "Not Responding" and I have to force it to close. Even then, a VS instance is left hanging around in Task Manager and I have to kill it manually.
I've tried repairing Visual Studio, and uninstalling and reinstalling Visual Studio, and nothing fixes it.
In desperation, I completely flattened my PC and reinstalled everything from scratch. It lasted about a day and then JIT debugging started hanging again. I was on Windows 10 and Visual Studio 17.4.1 before, and I'm on Windows 11 and Visual Studio 17.4.2 now.
To make sure that it's not a problem with some particular code, I created a one-line console app System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch(); and that crashes just the same.
Has anybody experienced anything similar, or have any idea what could be going wrong?
I don't know why that fails, but I suggest to attach to a running instance of Visual Studio instead. Start Visual Studio first, and then when the "launch debugger" window appears, select the running VS instance. Preferably, you should even open the correct solution/project first. If you attach to that instance, all your source code and the project structure is available for debugging.
Another alternative: Instead of using Debugger.Launch(), use a code snipped such as
while (!Debugger.IsAttached)
{
Thread.Sleep(100);
}
at the beginning of your program and attach the debugger from within Visual Studio (using the menu option Debug->Attach to process)
I had the same exact problem and after updated to VS version 17.4.4 the issue disappeared. All good now.

VS2010 express beta2 - no add reference dialog, no open file/project dialogs

Just installed VS2010 express for Windows Phone last night. Install went smoothly. It creates a project, compiles, and deploys the app to the emulator.
Here's the problem: When I try to "Add Reference" through the Project menu, I do not get the Add Reference dialog box. Same thing if I right click References in the solution explorer and click Add Reference. That's not all. "File...Open" and "File...Open Project" also fail to throw up an open file dialog box. When attempting any of these actions, the IDE quickly loses and regains focus. Even pressing a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+O) causes the IDE to quickly lose and regain focus, but no open file dialog box appears.
This is what I have tried, not particularly in this order:
1. Turned off UAC
2. Monitored file and registry access using Process Monitor during a File...Open operation. File activity showed mostly "SUCCESS" with a few "FAST IO DISALLOWED" and a few "INVALID DEVICE REQUEST" results. Registry activity showed mostly "SUCCESS" with some "NAME NOT FOUND" and a few "BUFFER OVERFLOW" results.
3. Created a new, clean Windows account to run the IDE from
4. Forced a test project to add a reference to "System.Xml.Linq" by editing the ".csproj" project file. Project failed to load in the IDE.
I don't have these problems at all on 2 other Windows 7 computers with VS2010 C# express beta 2 installed. One machine is 32bit and the other 64bit, both Home Premium edition.
My system: Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit
Other Visual Studio products installed: VS2008 C# express, VS2008 C++ express
One other thing to note: Several months ago I installed the non-phone distribution of VS2010 C# express beta 2, and I had the same exact problems. Back then I chalked it up to being beta and went back to VS2008 C# express, where I do not have these issues.
Matt, if you're still reading this post, I have a solution:
Do you have the Tablet PC Input Service disabled? Enable and start it. This was suggested to me over on the MSDN forums, and it worked for me immediately. I have this service disabled, but I turned it on, fired up VS2010, and it just worked right off. I confirmed this solution by turning the service off again, starting VS2010, and noting that it breaks once again. Turned the service on once more, started VS2010, and it works perfectly. Amazing.
I do not think it's acceptable to require this particular service just for VS2010 to function correctly. Hopefully they fix this in the inevitable service pack. FYI, I had this service disabled because I turn off all services I don't require. So now I have two "wisptis.exe" tasks eating up ~8MB of RAM and starting every time I turn on the PC. Or I can shut the service off again and just resort to my previous workaround. haha
Here is a work around.
Just run wisptis.exe from command line and start the visual studio.
If you don't wanna run each and every time you restarts the computer,then just put wisptis.exe in a .bat file and move it to the startup folder,so that it will be automatically executed on each and every startup.
EDIT 1 :- Or else just press 'WIN'+'R' and type 'wisptis' and press 'Enter'.
I experienced the exact same problem. I'm running VS2010 Express on Windows 7 (x64). Re-enabling the "Tablet Input" service "fixed" the problem.
VS2010 has always worked fine, and then suddenly for no apparent reason "ctrl-O", "Add Reference", "Open Project", and other similar functions stop working.
No amount of repair/uninstall/reinstall would fix the problem.
I always disable the "Tablet Input" service on Win 7, because I use a Wacom tablet, and dislike the visual notification of (tablet) mouse clicks this service causes. VS2010 has so far been working fine in this setup with Tablet input service disabled, but then suddenly the problem arose, and I had to re-enable the "Tablet Input" service to make it go away.
I have another computer with the exact same setup - Win 7 (x64), VS2010 Express, Wacom table, and disabled "Tablet Input" service - and here VS2010 is still working just fine. Both computers also have almost identical software installed and updates installed, so I still have no idea where the difference lies.
Has anyone had more luck in finding the root cause?
I also use Power Toys, but I have not been able to correlate this installation with the problematic behavior of VS2010.
I'm having close to the same issue with the exception that my New | Project dialog works, but Add Reference and Ctrl + O just cause the interface to lose focus and regain focus without every launching the dialog. I have tried running devenv /ResetAddin and devenv /ResetSkipPkgs, but neither helped. I have UAC turned off as well. I don't experience the issue with VS2008.
Here's my setup:
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate RTM
Visual Studio 2008 Team System Developer Edition with Team Explorer 2008 and VS2008 SP1
The only addins I run:
GhostDoc
.NET Reflector
Other Related Products I run:
Microsoft Expression Studio 3
SQL Server 2008 Developer Edition with SP1
tonight I uninstalled the VS2010 Express beta 2+phone tools and installed the now final RTM VS2010 Express C#. It STILL had the problem! For kicks, I tried importing a VS2008 project because it has some extra references in the project, and I was curious how they would be handled. The project imported successfully, but compiled with errors that it couldn't find a reference for a SyndicationFeed object, even though the reference for it was successfully added to the References list upon import. I remove the reference (System.ServiceModel.Web), hold my breath, and try to Add Reference one more time. Amazingly, the Add Reference dialog pops up, I add the reference back, recompile and bingo. File...Open and File...Open Project now throw up the proper file open dialogs as well.
To be sure this isn't a fluke only related to importing an old project, I shut down VS2010, start it back up, create a brand new project and try Add Reference. It works still. The File/Project dialogs also show up. I have no idea how, but importing a VS2008 project apparently made VS2010 correct itself on my machine.
Thank you for replying to my post. After hours of Googling over the past few days, your post is the first I've seen of anyone else having this issue besides me.
I found a workaround, but it's annoying having to do this:
1. Create a new project
2. Close VS2010, don't bother saving the new project
3. Start VS2010 again, and everything works as it should. I can access the Add Reference dialog, and I can do a File...Open and Open Project from the menu and toolbar.
If I close VS2010 and start it again, it is broken once more. Performing my workaround fixes it again for that session.
Still looking for a permanent solution.
I finally figured out a work-around. If I temporarily disable the Power Tools, the original Add References dialog opens fine. After adding my references, I can enable the Power Tools again.

Visual studio debug console sometimes stays open and is impossible to close

EDIT #3 : Microsoft has released a 'fix' to this problem which is available here. I haven't had the time to test it, but I those who want to are welcome to leave their feedback here !
Sometimes when I run an application from Visual Studio and it crashes or I stop it using the stop button in the debug menu (Debug->Stop Debugging (Shift-F5)), the console of said application stays open... and never closes. I cannot close it by clicking the 'x' button in the top right corner. I cannot kill the process as it is not even listed in taskmgr.
I have seen this problem documented in different places on the web, but no solution so far.
I am running on windows XP SP3, using visual studio 2008 w/ SP1.
1- What could be causing this ?
2- Is there a fix ?
thanks alot.
JC
EDIT: There is no MyApp.vshost.exe process to close, and closing visual studio does not close the console either. Worse even, if I try to restart my computer windows will hang and never close, I need to do a forced shut down.
EDIT #2 : (from Brad Sullivan, Program Manager - Visual Studio Debugger on March 2nd)
[...] this issue is likely not in Visual Studio since it also occurs in scenarios where Visual Studio is not present. We are in the process of handing over our investigation to the Windows Servicing team.
But for now, removing the KB978037 update and it's related files seems to work.
This is a bug introduced in security update KB978037. Back out this update and you'll be back to normal.
Also see here:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vsdebug/thread/e6d4a4f5-7002-401a-90e1-6174d7f9e3ca
Microsoft has released a 'fix' to this problem which is available here. I haven't had the time to test it, but I those who want to are welcome to leave their feedback here !
There are a couple of things that could be happening here. Try closing down the following process and see which one, if any close down the Console application as well.
The Hosting Process: Typically named YourExecutable.vshost.exe
Visual Studio
If closing the hosting process fixes the issue then one quick work around is to disable the hosting process itself.
Right Click on Project -> Properties -> Debug -> Uncheck the hosting process
If closing down Visual Studio fixes the problem then it's potentially a bug in Visual Studio. Please file a bug on connect.
http://connect.microsoft.com
Visual Studio Debugger Team has already acknowledge this issues on their blog. check the below url for more information.
http://blogs.msdn.com/debugger/archive/2010/03/11/help-my-console-windows-won-t-go-away.aspx

Debugging in visual studio 2008 freezes entire system

Any time i try to debug in visual studio 2008 my entire system will freeze whenever a breakpoint is hit.
I can move the mouse around and that remains responsive but nothing i click on does anything,
I can bring up the task manager but can't do anything with it and i am able to lock/unlock the machine.
I tried a fix that i found via google that suggested i disable advanced text services but it didn't work. I am using visual studio 2008 with SP1 running on Windows XP Pro, asking here is my last hope before formating/reinstalling so i hope someone can help me out.
I debug by running the application in debug mode, the freeze happens no matter what the project size and it seems as if it is just the entire GUI that freezes, the computer carries on working just fine i just can't do anything with it because the GUI is totaly unresponsive.
I found I only had this issue when I was using the keyboard to debug. If I used the toolbar debug buttons, I didn't have an issue.
To "fix" this, I set the LowLevelHooksTimeout to 300ms (from 5000ms). You may need to add the DWORD if it isn't already there.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop\LowLevelHooksTimeout
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\LowLevelHooksTimeout
Restart after making this change for good measure.
How big is the project you are running? When I did a Find last night on a huge open source project, I got kind of the same behavior.
Also, did you try Uninstalling just VS2008, then Reinstalling with only the options you use.
Have you tried disabling "Call ToString()" debugger option? This is ON by default, and is known to deadlock.

Visual studio 2008 crashes when starting to debug

When I press F5, everything compiles fine, but when the app is to be started, VS crashes, showing the "Just in time debugger" dialog.
More than one (similar) solution has this problem. A new solution containing just a form, works. This problem started out of the blue, I have made no changes to the environment as far as I can understand.
I can start the app without debugging (ctrl+F5), and then attach the debugger.
I'm using VS 2008 sp 1.
Never seen this issue, have you tried turning off all your plug-ins like reSharper, CodeRush, etc.?
Update: When worst comes to worst I usually try this command line.
devenv.exe /ResetSettings
devenv.exe /ResetSkipPkgs
devenv.exe /Setup
try all these you can do them all at once or do them individually it is up to you. But be aware that you will be deleting all your settings that you have customized in to Visual Studio, so you may want to back them up.
The last thing you can try is this, to see if the problem is with something weird that is running.
devenv.exe /SafeMode
Starts Visual Studio in safe mode, and loads only the default environment and services, and shipped versions of third-party packages.
I've found the problem now. I had "Step framework source" enabled, which somehow broke the debugger (strange though, because it usually works). Turning that off, made me debug as usual again.
If you have undocked windows in debug layout search KB960075 on code.msdn.microsoft.com (can't add hrefs).
Do you have CLI.exe error issues? Check your event log. I've had the same issue and simply re-staged my machine out of panic since I was so near a deadline. I assumed that it was an issue with the registry and couldn't find an answer.
try repair or reinstall, don't waste time findin' the reason of the problem
I had the same problem, out of the blue the IDE would crash when I started to debug. Happened with any existing project that I opened, even the visual studio samples. I created a new project, just a blank dialog, ran it, and all was good. After that, the problem went away and I was able to debug again.
This happened to me just now, after my computer rebooted itself last night. When I was pressing F5 the app started but instantly shut down and the VS IDE crashed.
To fix it: Debug->Delete All Breakpoints. It worked for me.

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