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I've installed Visual Studio 2012 after reformatting my computer.

When I open a xaml file in a new empty wpf project, it opens it in a regular code editor and doesn't let me choose Design View (the option is just not there).

Right-clicking the xaml file and choosing "View Designer" opens a new code window instead of a new designer window. (yes, the same code window is actually opened twice)

Right-clicking the xaml file and choosing "Open With" shows that I'm missing the Xaml UI designer editor. (it doesn't show anywhere on the list)

I've tried running "devenv.exe /ResetSkipPkgs" and "devenv.exe /resetuserdata" and Repairing visual studio's installation all together (both by re-installing and the Repair button in the installation wizard).

Nothing seems to help. Anyone familiar with the problem and knows how to fix?

SimpleVar
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2 Answers2

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Something else to try, I know a lot of folks disable the designer for performance reasons. This is done with a file extension association in visual studio. I'm wondering if the reverse may help you?

If you right click a XAML file in your solution and select Open with...

... You should see XAML UI designer as an option! select it and click 'Set as default'.

Hopefully that works for you.

kidshaw
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  • I know I should, but I don't. It is not there. That is the whole problem. – SimpleVar Aug 21 '14 at 08:47
  • Figured as much but thought worth mentioning as it hasn't been mentioned before. Do you get this with a clean vanilla project? I've seen some threads say that deleting the .suo file for the solution brings back the functionality. – kidshaw Aug 21 '14 at 08:57
  • It says so about 2 times in this page (one is in the 2nd line of my very question, note the **bold**). – SimpleVar Aug 21 '14 at 09:03
  • Sorry was responding via my phone so couldn't see the thread - just trying to help. – kidshaw Aug 21 '14 at 09:06
  • Much appreciated, really. I wonder how many others before you were responding by phone ;) I just got irritated at some point for having to repeat myself. – SimpleVar Aug 21 '14 at 09:15
  • Yeah - that should be part of SO 101. Hope you find a solution :) – kidshaw Aug 21 '14 at 09:16
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I am just guessing, but my experience with VS2012 is, that sometimes it cannot access the registry, because it fails to set an owner for the newly created registry keys. Without owner noone but the System can access those Keys.

I used resplendence Registrar Registry Editor Trial Version to Fix the broken Keys.

I would especially check 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0

and

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\XamlEditor

because you can find all the settings there.

In addition i experienced this error only on recently reformatted win 7 systems. And all of them have ssd's, but i am not sure if it only occurs on systems where no "old" harddrive is. But i found some people on msdn who also experienced issues whith VS2012 and having only a ssd in the system.

Sebastian L
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  • My `11.0` key has many keys and values, including `XmlEditor` (lots of values) and `xaml` (Type = 0). The `12.0` key, however, has very few keys and values (nothing related to xaml). In addition to that, there is a `11.0_config` key which contains `XmlEditor` and `XmlChooserFactory` (that seems to contain relevant, and valid data). But there is no `12.0_config` at all. What actions do you advise me to take? – SimpleVar Aug 22 '14 at 09:35
  • VS2012 is the 11th version of VS, so i think '12.0' is not relevant for your problem. Maybe you can compare the settings of X **a** mlEditor to a working System? – Sebastian L Aug 22 '14 at 09:47
  • But it sure is strange you have a `12.0` key, did you installed VS2013? – Sebastian L Aug 22 '14 at 10:01
  • The latest installed version of VS I have is 2012, but searching for 2013 through the start screen (windows 8.1) still brings up "Try other Visual Studio 2013 products" (and only that). I also have `10.0` and `10.0_config` keys. Any point of comparing between those to the `11.0`'s? By the way, if you could "Save" the registry key of `XamlEditor` from your machine and post it, it would be much appreciated. – SimpleVar Aug 22 '14 at 10:06
  • I exported XamlEditor and XmlEditor because i thought they could be connected. [Downloadlink](http://wikisend.com/download/771600/RegKeys.zip) I hope this will help you ;) – Sebastian L Aug 22 '14 at 10:50
  • No change, sadly. Could you share the relevant `11.0_config` keys as well? I believe those are somewhat more crucial here. – SimpleVar Aug 22 '14 at 10:57