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I've been trying to open some of the webpage/database solutions I made while working for my previous employer, to get a refresher on what they were, but for some reason Visual Studio Professional 2013 just decides to either crash while opening them, or crash when I try opening one of the C# files I made in them. I have no idea why it's doing this now, since it's been a little over a month since I made these files without any problems. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with 2013 itself, either. Suggestions?

nomuru2d
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    I have had this happen sometimes when there are Extensions that are causing problems. I would check the log to get more information. – DROP TABLE users Mar 28 '14 at 18:11
  • For anyone coming to this later--make sure you have the most recent update installed. I was having this problem and it only went away when I installed VS 2013 Update 5. – GrandOpener Apr 22 '16 at 16:33

10 Answers10

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For VS2013: I've hit a similar problem every now and then and my fix is to delete the *.suo file and then open the solution.

The only time that has not worked was when an extension was playing up, in which case I opened VS in Safemode using the /safemode switch.

devenv.exe /safemode

Using the /log switch as noted in another answer is also a good idea if it turns out to be a misbehaving extension because that can help you track it down. The default location of the ActivityLog.xml file on my computer is "c:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\ActivityLog.xml" but you can also specify where you want the file to be:

Devenv /log Path\NameOfLogFile

See the documentation for VS2013 (with links to other versions) at: /Log (devenv.exe)

I hope that helps.

For VS2015: Same solution, just the suo file is in a different place. VS2015 adds a ".vs" folder. Within that folder are other folders, one of which is named the same as your solution, within that folder is another folder named "v14" and within that one (finally) is a file called ".suo". Delete that file.

Example: your solution is called "Whatever". Starting from your "Whatever" folder the path to the suo is: 

.vs\SolutionName\v14\.suo

If you can't see the ".suo" file, remember that it is a hidden file.

I've been using this PowerShell script for a few days to get rid of the .suo files after switching between git branches:

get-childitem -Include .suo -Recurse -force | Remove-Item -Force –Recurse

I've not had any problems with it so far, but no promises that it won't incinerate your laptop :) so use it carefully.

For VS2017: The path to the .suo is: 

.vs\SolutionName\v15\.suo

My guess is the "v15" will keep incrementing in future releases.

I found another SO answer that covers some other solutions to VS issues, such as flushing the ReSharper cache if you are using that tool: Visual Studio displaying errors even if projects build.

... And VS2019 The path to the .suo is: 

.vs\SolutionName\v16\.suo

When I started using VS2019 I got a lot of "errors" reported after a successful build of an existing project. The editor didn't like namespaces from other projects within the solution. Closing VS, deleting the .vs folder and restarting VS fixed it.

grahamesd
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  • This worked like a charm for me. Didn't need to check any log. After opening VS using safemode, it simply worked. I guess something got restarted, and after that I could simply open my solutions in the normal way. Thanks a lot – Mario Garcia Jan 28 '16 at 11:46
  • what if it happens with ALL projects, and no extensions installed – John Demetriou Feb 03 '16 at 09:56
  • @JohnDemetriou - did you try everything above? Delete ".suo" file, run in safe mode and create a log file? – grahamesd Feb 04 '16 at 20:51
  • I actually created a new question. My fix was deleting the component model cache for a previous version of visual studio that was still installed – John Demetriou Feb 05 '16 at 06:57
  • Just deleted the suo file and runs flawlessly in VS 2015 – Ratul Jun 09 '16 at 15:28
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Try invoking Visual Studio from the command line.

devenv.exe /log

Then try to open your solution and then if it crashes, go look at the 

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\ActivityLog.xml

file. it should have details on the crash. Also, the event logs may capture some high level events as well.

Raja Nadar
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This is going to be the "answer from out of right field" but since it worked I want to share it with others. After trying to open a project and getting the "unsupported project type" error with Visual Studio 2013, I could no longer open any solution. I could load the IDE. But as soon as I tried to open a solution file, the IDE would crash with a message saying it was restarting and then ask if I wanted to debug or close the program. The same thing happened if I tried to load a solution file by double-clicking on it in an Explorer window. I tried uninstalling an Extension I recently added and even did a full reboot. Nothing worked. Also, there was no new activity in any of the ActivityLog.xml files I found in 3 different version directories. Also, deleting SUO files did not help either.

I then tried to create a brand new project. I just happened to pick an ASP.NET/MVC 4 Facebook app. Probably doesn't matter but just in case it does I'm including that detail. As soon as the brand new project was created I closed it and re-opened it. It re-opened fine, and after that all of my other solutions could be opened up again without error. So at least in my case, the act of creating a brand new project cleaned something up or re-initialized something properly and cleaned up the problem.

Robert Oschler
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    Wow, this this actually solved the issue for me! I hade no luck with deleting the .SUO or deactivating extensions in VS. I couldn't even create the template project that you are talking about in your answer. I got this error when trying to do so: "No exports were found that match the constraint contract name". I googled and StackOverflow delivered this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17596543/error-message-no-exports-were-found-that-match-the-constraint-contract-name After using that solution I was able to create the template project. And then the .SLN imported fine. Magical, thank you!! – nalas Jun 03 '15 at 15:28
  • Thanks Robert and @nalas. I first cleaned Visual Studio Component Model Cache and then created a new project. Finally the problem solved !! – Avishekh Bharati Nov 22 '15 at 14:35
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.NET Reflector Extension was causing this issue for me - uninstalled and works a dream.

Craig Hannon
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Visual Studio 2015 seems to have similiar issue. Sometimes, the remove .suo solution worked for me, but today this bug caught me one more time and the solution was:

remove Reshaper cache.

In order to locate the location, go to Visual Studio / ReSharper / Options / General. I've removed folder contents manually.

Marcin Zablocki
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Restarting the computer fixed it for me.

I know that sounds trivial, but sometimes you try a million different things that don't work, not realizing you haven't tried the one simple thing that actually does fix it. Meanwhile you're deleting things and changing things unnecessarily. Should be a rule of thumb to always reboot before trying other more extreme solutions.

Dave Cousineau
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I have a similar case when I disabled the "Productivity Power Tools 2013", then VS2013 will crash on any project open/new. Even I tried to re-enable the extension, it wouldn't work.

I end up uninstalled it.

neolei
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I had the same, but I managed to go to Help -> register and click "Sign out" before it crashed. After that it stopped crashing. I believe it was related to the fact that I changed my password and the license could not have been obtained or something like that...

Michal B.
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Delete the caches in the corresponding paths:

C:\Users\davidmurali\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\8.0\ComponentModelCache C:\Users\davidmurali\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\ComponentModelCache C:\Users\davidmurali\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\ComponentModelCache

Michal
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David TheFIRE
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My solution:

devenv.exe /log

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\ActivityLog.xml

find any "error" word

deleted: C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\COMMON FILES\MICROSOFT\EXTENSIONMANAGER\EXTENSIONS\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS KITS\8.1\DESKTOP SDK\*

p4sh4
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J.Doe
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