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When I open Visual Studio everything is fine, but when I open any solution, it comes up with an error:

Visual Studio 2012 for Windows Desktop has stopped working.

I'm beginning to get really frustrated now, can anyone help? I don't want to lose all of my work.

I formatted my computer yesterday, reinstalled all my software and used Visual Studio all day, it was fine. When I shut down the computer, it updated to the newest versions of windows update, then completed the update this morning when I turned it on, now I can't open any of my solutions again.

psubsee2003
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user2827904
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  • can you create a new solution? if you can create new solutions but not open existing ones, perhaps you need to verify the version of .net installed and expected in your existing projects? – Claies Sep 29 '13 at 09:40
  • im just re running the installer to repair it, see if that works then ill check it out. but one solution i created yesterday on this version of vs wont open, surely that would be the same configuration? – user2827904 Sep 29 '13 at 09:43
  • Have you tried to roll back the windows updates that were installed? Given the timing of the updates and the reoccurrence of the problem, this sounds like it might be a general issue related to the update and windows, and not necessarily an issue with Visual Studio. – psubsee2003 Sep 29 '13 at 09:45
  • for some reason its started working again. can i still trust the software? – user2827904 Sep 29 '13 at 10:06
  • You can never trust software. People like you and I are writing it! – Cody Gray - on strike May 10 '14 at 11:22

15 Answers15

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I had exactly the same problem, additionally I could not create new projects because of "no exports were found that match the constraint contract name" error. I made a small research and the answer from this question helped me to resolve both issues. Now I can create and open my previous projects. What I did is to delete this folder:

%AppData%\..\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\ComponentModelCache
Community
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Georgi
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    I have the same problem and this solution didn't help me :( – elady Jun 30 '14 at 06:40
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    This worked for me. I actually deleted the entire folder, "%AppData%\..\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0". I also deleted my settings file (which got recreated) C:\Users\[userName]\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Settings. I got this problem when I installed a newer version of GIT and that resulted in my environment PATH variable going over 2048 characters and in the process I also did a devenv.exe /resetsettings. Any case, my VS got screwed up. Deleting this folder allowed my to get back and get going again. – Chris Patterson Dec 15 '14 at 20:48
  • I encountered the same problem with Visual Studio 2013 in Win 8.1 but removing ComponentModelCache folder didn't work. Then I deleted content inside "12.0" folder as mentioned by Chris and it worked. – Nipuna Jan 03 '15 at 09:04
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I tried the above things but it did not worked for me.But resetting environmnet setting did the job.
Go to Tools->Import & Export Settings -> Choose Reset all settings enter image description here
NOTE: you can also save copy of current setting by Exporting it as a backup

Anshul Nigam
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It is just two steps solution:

  1. Delete this folder: %AppData%..\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0
  2. Run devenv/resetsettings from the folder where your visual studio is installed.
Miguel
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First I tried Reset All Settings: Tools -> Import / Export Settings -> Reset All Settings. I did not resolved the issue.

Deleting the entire deleted the entire folder, "%AppData%..\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0" worked for me.

Thanks everyone for the help.

mercedes
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I had same problem and i also tried all above solutions but unable to fix it, even i re-install and repair Visual Studio. After 5-6 hours finally I got solution. Run Window + R and type below command. It will fix your problem. Thanks

"devenv.exe /ResetUserData"

Umer Tariq
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Clean the solution Delete / rename all files in your solution created by VS, i.e. all .ncb, .suo, .user files Launch Visual Studio with all add-ins disabled: devenv.exe /SafeMode Reset All Settings: Tools -> Import / Export Settings -> Reset All Settings

user3269593
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I faced same problem after I upgraded from windows 8 to windows 8.1 . But I deleted the folder C:\Users\C S RAI\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\ and the problem is solved.

Chandrashekhar Rai
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You only need to go into below location

(%AppData%..\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\ComponentModelCache)

and delete the file "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Default.cache".

It should work.

Zeeshan Ahmed
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I came across this type of error last week working on VS2013, the solution for me is to start the Visual Studio installation and select 'Repair'.

Joseph Wu
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0

Had this problem when trying to Debug an ASP.NET site.

Turns out my "Application Pool" (e.g. ASP.NET v4.0) had more than one "Maximum Worker Processes" and that was causing the problem.

Randy Rowell
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I had same problem and I tried all above solutions but none one them worked for me. When I checked Tools->Extensions and Updates->Online, I saw a few updates available. I chose one of them and after restart, Visual Studio 2013 back to normal.

sinan
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If all above answers doesn't solved the problem. Try to disable the internet connection and then open the VS; if it opens without the error, It possibly means that the one causing the problem is the Instance ID / User account. Logout your microsoft ID (still without internet) and then plug the internet again and try to open the VS.

This worked for me.

princevezt
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The answer by @Georgi is correct. This answer is just to guide user to access the User AppData and Roaming folders in Windows 10. Do the following steps:

  1. Go to File Explorer.
  2. Select the C drive.
  3. On the File Explorer Ribbon, switch to the View Tab.
  4. Expand the Option button, by clicking on the black small triangle below the button. As shown in the image: enter image description here
  5. Select Change Folder and Search Options.
  6. On the Folder Options dialog box select the View Tab. enter image description here
  7. Amend as shown above.
  8. Click the Apply and then the OK buttons.
  9. Now go the folder C:\Users\YOUUSERRNAME\AppData and you will see them enabled.

In order to keep your computer safe, remember to restore back the defaults.

Credits to Hafid Selougha.

jwen
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I have encountered this issue (Visual Studio 2012 for Windows Desktop has stopped working.) today after installing the github desktop version. Deleting the files from this location "(%AppData%..\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\ComponentModelCache)" didnt help. I reset all environment settings using visual studio. Go to Tools -> Import and Export settings and choose "Reset all settings" option to reset the environment settings. I see new settings file generated in the path "C:\Users[username]\Documents\Visual Studio [version]\Settings" and then i was able to open all the existing projects in my local machine.

user1551655
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Deleting the OBJ folder is what resolved this for me.

clamchoda
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