Visual Studio 2015 does not start

Question

We have installed Visual Studio 2015 Professional on Windows 7. It was working fine. But after we installed updates from the menu Tools-->'Extensions and Updates' today the Visual studio does not start anymore. we tried using 'run as administrator' as well. From the Start menu we right click on 'Visual Studio 2015', then 'run as administrator', the usual dialog box asking for permissions appears, we click on 'Yes', splash screen for Visual Studio appears for a second and then disappears. On the Task Manager, it does not appear as well.

Re-starting the system does not help either. .NET 4.6 is installed and Visual Studio 2012 on the same system is working fine.

UPDATE 1 The issue started after we installed the last update (from within VS2015) that had something to do with universal apps I think.

UPDATE 2 At the exact time when I start VS2015, one Windows Event log gets generated under security section as follows:

EventID 6281
Microsoft-Windows-Security-Auditing
Audit Failure
Message: Code Integrity determined that the page hashes of an image file are not valid.
The file could be improperly signed without page hashes or corrupt due to unauthorized modification.
The invalid hashes could indicate a potential disk device error.
File Name: \Device\HarddiskVolume3\Windows\System32\l3codeca.acm

@KenWhite At the exact time when I start VS2015, one Windows Event log gets generated under security section as follows: EventID 6281, Microsoft-Windows-Security-Auditing, Audit Failure. Message: Code Integrity determined that the page hashes of an image file are not valid. The file could be improperly signed without page hashes or corrupt due to unauthorized modification. The invalid hashes could indicate a potential disk device error. File Name: \Device\HarddiskVolume3\Windows\System32\l3codeca.acm — nam, Sep 22 '15 at 16:34
Please [edit] your question and put the information there. (The error message has some useful content, you know. Did you read it?) — Ken White, Sep 22 '15 at 16:41
@KenWhite Per your suggestion, I've added an update section in the original post. I don't understand the message. The VS2015 was working before we installed the last update that had something to do with universal apps I think. — nam, Sep 22 '15 at 17:08
The error message tells you that the executable (image file) is corrupted, and lists some reasons why that might have happened. — Ken White, Sep 22 '15 at 18:07

score 50 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 04 '16 at 02:20

50

I had the same problem recently after I upgraded one of the packages. I tried "everything" and the only option that worked was the /Setup switch (I was logged in as Administrator, but don't think that's required).

c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE>devenv.exe /Setup
c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE>devenv.exe

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ex6a2fad.aspx

answered Jun 04 '16 at 02:20

IKnewThat

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This worked for me, but I had to launch `devenv.exe /setup` elevated. – jValdron Jun 09 '16 at 17:07
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According to the documentation (in the msdn link of the response) this setting needs to be run as administrator. – Eli Algranti Jun 15 '16 at 03:05
This solved it for me! Thank you , IKnewThat, for answering this! – Jesse Smith Jun 20 '16 at 16:19
Thank you! I just ran into this today and your solution worked for me. – Jul 01 '16 at 23:33
This solved my identical problem. I hope this answer gets accepted. – John Alexiou Jul 15 '16 at 14:53
Fantastic. usually /ResetSettings works but recently /Setup worked instead – Bob Jul 27 '16 at 13:36
And here I am, several months later, trying to get VS working AGAIN after installing the Azure tools. Whose comment do I see...my own! Thanks again, @IKnewThat! – Jesse Smith Sep 27 '16 at 16:02
I experienced this with 2017 RC - this fixed the issue for me. – SimonGates Jan 19 '17 at 10:51
Just updated SSDT and tried this, but no luck - /ResetSettings worked, though. – IronicMuffin Mar 19 '18 at 14:01

score 39 · Answer 2 · answered May 19 '16 at 12:23

39

Here's what worked for me. Go to the Command Prompt and navigate to the folder with devenv.exe

In my case it was C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE

then execute

Devenv.exe /ResetSettings

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms241273.aspx

answered May 19 '16 at 12:23

Bob

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Worked like a charm. devenv.exe /Setup didn't worked even with elevation. This should be the accepted answer. – Pierrick Martellière Nov 08 '17 at 19:41

Wilbert · Answer 3 · 2016-07-14T08:40:00.197

13

I had the same problem. It was caused by Visual Studio Extensions adding paths to $PATH, which made $PATH grow too long (>2048 bytes).

This breaks VS and lots of other stuff on your machine.

Removing outdated and duplicate lines from $PATH made it short enough and VS2015 and everything worked again.

edited Jul 14 '16 at 08:40

answered Jul 13 '16 at 09:53

Wilbert

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I had the same issue to, and i also had to remove the icon cache `%userprofile%\AddData\Local\IconCache.db` because all of my shortcuts lost their icon images. – John Alexiou Jul 15 '16 at 14:57
I also recommend downloading [Rapid Environment Editor](http://www.rapidee.com/en/download) which manages enviroment variables with a UI and allows _backup_ of the `PATH` variable. I am surprised the year 2016 that this is still so critical. – John Alexiou Jul 15 '16 at 14:59
1

Making PATH shorter than 2048 chars solved this issue for me. Thanks! – Volma Aug 18 '16 at 13:47
You are correct but IKnewThat and Bob maybe correct too. You all are Like Three Musketers – toha Nov 17 '16 at 03:16
Solved it! Thanks! – 3lRicko Dec 10 '16 at 22:14
I found to paths in the environment variable PATH that were not valid anymore using rapid environment editor. After removing those pathe VS 2015 started again. I also ran the /resetSettings option as an administrator. Needed to sign in afterwards for VS. – Karl May 16 '17 at 15:08

score 9 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 12 '17 at 00:05

9

If nothing above works (like in my case) then open a registry editor, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio and delete all 14.0 directories.

It will reset all VS settings and next launch will be like first one after installation. Found answer here

edited Apr 12 '17 at 00:05

Dan Fitch

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answered Oct 15 '16 at 11:43

Mardok

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This is all that worked for me after I installed Ajaxtool kit and it broke Vs 2015 – Standage Apr 17 '18 at 16:09

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 12 '16 at 14:35

After trying the other solutions in this thread, what finally worked for me was:

From an elevated Command Prompt, navigate to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE".

Execute:

devenv.exe /Log C:\temp.log

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms241272.aspx

The log should contain a matching set of Begin and End entries for every extension:

<description>Begin package load ...
...
<description>End package load ...

If the last extension is missing the End package load entry, you need to uninstall that extension.

Execute:

devenv.exe /SafeMode

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms241278.aspx

Go to "Tools -> Extensions and Updates" and uninstall the offending extension.

Exit VS. Start VS as normal. In case it still doesn't work, repeat the procedure.

Thanks for the suggestion. For me it was caused by CodeXL plugin for VS2015 . In the log it was complaining about failure to load GLSLSyntaxHighlighter.dll . — Serge Rogatch, Jun 07 '17 at 17:45
Even `devenv.exe /SafeMode` does not start it for me. Splash screen shows just for a frame or two and then nothing. — jozxyqk, Sep 28 '17 at 19:20

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 11 '18 at 05:46

0

Nothing of above helped me, What helped me was to copy devenu.exe from other computer which had VS installed and then replacing it with mine computers devenu.exe.

answered Mar 11 '18 at 05:46

Naeem Malik

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score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 02 '18 at 17:36

0

Run C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\Blend.exe
Right click on some file in "Solution Explorer" such as "default.aspx" and select "Edit in Visual Studio"

answered Dec 02 '18 at 17:36

MX Woz

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score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 19 '19 at 11:14

For me it only shows Visual studio 2015 window without disappearing and showing IDE or any error.

Non of following solutions worked for my normal domain user but there was no issue running it with administrator.

Devenv.exe /ResetSettings
Reinstalling
Repairing
Watching event viewer for more details
Cleaning temp and cleanup and finally seeing some error

Finally I deleted my whole profile from admin via [System properties]-> [Advanced] -> [Profile] and it resolved the problem.

Just before that copy your user folder somewhere or at least your desktop and user folders and also your bookmarks and settings.

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 07 '19 at 21:35

0

I tried several methods above and even re-installed VS but it did not work. The final solution was to really completely remove all the settings and registries of VS with the tool VisualStudioUninstaller. After uninstalling and re-installing it, it is up again.

answered Nov 07 '19 at 21:35

XtremeCold

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If you are using Community edition, I would recommend using Community edition of new [version 2019](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/) of Visual Studio. – nam Nov 08 '19 at 15:37

Visual Studio 2015 does not start

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