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I have a weird behavior of Visual Studio 2013 (and 2010), that i cant seem to fix.

I know this is not directly related to programming (similar questions achieve the same error message via code, so i assume it is code within VisualStudio that has a problem).

My projects are C++.

Whenever i click on a project and open its properties, i get the following error box:

Error Message

with the text:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

I can trigger that error message by selecting "Configuration Properties -> General". The view then does not show the information for "General".

My setting is the following: Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 64bit, Visual Studio 2010 (i need the compiler) and Visual Studio 2013 Professional (Update 4).

I have to work with these extensions:

  • IBM Clearcase Integration
  • IBM RTC VS Integration
  • Visual Assist X
  • Xoreax Incredibuild

What i did try without success:

  • Remove all VS related files/folders in
    • %APPDATA%\..\Local\Microsoft
    • %APPDATA%\..\Roaming\Microsoft
    • %PROGRAMFILES%
    • %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%
    • %USERPROFILE%\Documents
  • Repair/Reinstall VS2010 and VS2013 (i always installed VS2010 first)
  • Reinstall .NET Framework 4.5.2
  • Create a new project from within VS2013, i get the usual error plus:new_proj_error
  • Use TotalUninstaller as described here to remove all extensions
  • Hooking into the devenv process with WinDBG did not work (in non-invasive i couldnt get it to run)
  • Start devenv.exe with safemode and log
  • Uninstall NuGet as proposed here
  • Create new solution and delete old .suo and .sdf files
  • Look at output output of ProcMon while triggering the error. I checked the registry for that key: nonexistent
  • Look at logfile at %APPDATA%\..\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\ActivityLog.xml generated via /log: the keys are found within other keys of the value "(Default)". No clue on how to interpret that
  • Reset all user settings via the (also secret) options named here
  • Run .NET Fixing Tools and SFC
  • Clean (remove from) registry
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\

So my questions are

  • How could i further debug the problem
  • How can i really delete/reset all user settings and files and cleanup the registry
  • Could this be related to solutions or projects
  • Any third party components known to be problematic? .Net Frameworks?
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    Related (possible duplicate): [Error when clicking on Solution -> Properties (Object reference not set to an instance of an object)](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13453109/error-when-clicking-on-solution-properties-object-reference-not-set-to-an-in) – Daniel Daranas Apr 14 '15 at 10:48
  • thanks! how did i not find this before – x29a Apr 14 '15 at 10:51
  • There's another one: [VS2012: Property Pages isn't opening: Object reference not set to an instance of an object](http://stackoverflow.com/q/12525354/96780). I googled: whenever i click on a project and open its properties object reference not set to an instance of an object. I will edit your question title, so that the relevant part "Whenever i click on a project and open its properties" appears on it. – Daniel Daranas Apr 14 '15 at 11:59
  • Thanks for your contribution, they all seem to be resolved with "disable/uninstall nuget", which doesnt work for me. Also, i am facing the problem when looking at the generals tab of the project properties, not the solution. Though i have no clue if that does matter in the end. – x29a Apr 14 '15 at 12:54
  • Starting in safe mode didn't give any results whatsoever? That's strange. Maybe I'd just try uninstalling everything and installing it again. Does this happen from day one? After a clean install and in a "hello world" project, this should not happen. If it did happen, maybe I'd return Visual Studio and ask for my money back. – Daniel Daranas Apr 14 '15 at 13:34
  • Yep, uninstalled "everything", happens after a clean install while creating a new project. Because of this behaviour, i assume its a central/shared resources that went bonkers. I removed all the SQL things (somewhat related to intellisense) as well as .Net Framework (4.5.1) prior reinstalling. I have been living some months with the problem, so i cannot say what triggered it :/ – x29a Apr 14 '15 at 14:13
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    i ended up reinstalling windows, the good news: the problem is gone – x29a Apr 28 '15 at 14:48
  • In some weird behavior cases of Visual Studio like: - suddenly collapsing - unclear message box thrown directly from IDE - being freez for a while with no special reason I delete the *.suo file from the location where the solution file is. It usually helped me. – Damian Kobak Jan 20 '16 at 09:09
  • @DamianKobak it happened on completely new projects as well – x29a Jan 20 '16 at 10:00

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