Why Visual Studio 2015 freezes crashes hangs on Designer view?

Question

Everytime I go to the designer Visual Studio freezes(Not Responding) for 30+ seconds and once I click on any element/widget after that, it freezes again for 30+. Does that for 5 times maybe then I will be able to edit and design.

Specs:

Visual Studio Community 2015
Windows 10 64-bit
Dev Express Included
ReSharper Installed
Visual Studio 2013 installed
All Redistibutable files (2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015)
TypeScript Tools for MVS 2015 1.7.6.0 installed
Windows Phone 8.1 Emulators - ENU installed
16 GB Ram
Intel i5 6500 CPU 3.20 GHx
10154 MB GeForce GTX 750 Ti

Attempts:

Repair Visual Studio
Update 2 installation
Uninstall VS then Reinstall
Uninstall ReSharper
Restarted VS and my PC (almost) million times by now

What is the issue??

Editing XAML leads Visual Studio's Designer to crash I don't have to edit Xaml to get the problem, I am just clicking my View to, well, view. However the solution did not work.

Visual Studio 2012 hangs on editing XAML of course..

Visual Studio 2012 design view causes freeze Repairing did not work.

Visual Studio 2013 hangs/freezes when trying to click the designer view No answer.

Edit:

When VS is frozen, this is how my Task Manager look like:

Visual Studio in Safe Mode couldn't open most of my files. Saying this:

I was not able to open any of the old versions in Safe Mode (for this same application) due to the same above error "Unsupported"
I was able to create a new project in Safe Mode, and it worked fine.
I was able to create a new project in Normal Mode, and it worked fine.
I faced the same freezing issue when I copied/pasted the whole project into another device. So, it is something unique to my project I guess.

I forgot to mention that some of the times that I go to the designer, it says Invalid Markup and blocks me from seeing the View until I remove these lines from the XAML:

    <dxg:TableView.ColumnMenuCustomizations>
        <dxb:RemoveBarItemAndLinkAction ItemName="{x:Static dxg:DefaultColumnMenuItemNamesBase.ColumnChooser}" />
    </dxg:TableView.ColumnMenuCustomizations>

It compiles and runs fine even if I keep these lines in XAML, but I can't view without removing them. And this is how one of my Views looks like if I keep them:

And the underlined warning which "invalidate the Markups", is:

The property "ColumnMenuCustomizations" does not have an accessible setter

Is Blend included in your VS install ? Could you try to edit your XAML using it to see if the freezing still happens ? (if it does not, it is most liekly due to a Visual Studio Extension) — Irwene, Jun 07 '16 at 14:31
so this on software side. what is the specs of your hardwares? — Anonymous Duck, Jun 07 '16 at 14:31
No not on the form, i meant in the actual toolbox, often it can take a long time deciding what is to be shown in the toolbox — BugFinder, Jun 07 '16 at 14:37
@Side I don't have the Blend but I just added now what I have. And I don't freeze on editing, I just freeze on viewing — Khalil Khalaf, Jun 07 '16 at 14:44
@bugFinder I don't use the toolbox and it is hidden at all times — Khalil Khalaf, Jun 07 '16 at 14:45
That would seem a little over excessive just because some crappy software is making life more complicated than it should. You may want to review some of the items that live in your toolbox. It maybe a fair bit of work but you may want to try setting up specific projects that fail again, creating a new project, import all the forms and stuff.. it maybe that there some crappy setting haunting you somewhere — BugFinder, Jun 07 '16 at 15:01
@bug I am just frustrated since yesterday. Of course I am not going to kill my self but I meant that is a wall. It might be DevExpress then if something related to items I will see if I can exclude it but again it worked and still works with my colleagues — Khalil Khalaf, Jun 07 '16 at 15:27
Run `devenv.exe /safemode`. Does the problem reproduce without any third-party extensions loaded? — Cody Gray - on strike, Jun 07 '16 at 15:56
Yeah, you still have to open a project. Like you normally would. — Cody Gray - on strike, Jun 07 '16 at 16:14
@FirstStep no. I know you werent serious, it is frustrating. If all else fails, clear off vs, and reinstall — BugFinder, Jun 07 '16 at 22:55
Weird. I've never seen that error before. Safe mode disables TFS, too. I don't know if that's your problem. Can you create a *new* solution in safe mode? Does it reproduce the problem? What about a new solution in regular mode? Is this something unique to your project? — Cody Gray - on strike, Jun 08 '16 at 05:27
@cody I was able to create a new solution , in safe mode and in regular. It did not reproduce the problem (the new created project is still light?). Please see editions on my OP, I think it is unique to my project.. — Khalil Khalaf, Jun 08 '16 at 12:36
@Daniel, it did the same thing for this application on other devices. And other new created applications on my device work just fine. I don't think it is a virus issue. Could you suggest recommendations for your argument, so that if it is really some sort of virus? — Khalil Khalaf, Jun 08 '16 at 12:58
If it works in every project but that one, and the issue follows that project file to other machines, then it's clearly just a corruption of that project file. You will need to recreate it. It isn't that hard to recreate it using your existing files, just rather tedious. — Cody Gray - on strike, Jun 08 '16 at 13:20
@cody For me I see it as one huge messy Solution because I am not experienced. And it was under development since years I guess and I mean: additions, additions, additions with plenty of packages, add ons, C++ codes and files integrated with C# codes and files then I took responsibility of it lately. Several projects in one solution. I didn't start it so it is not going to be easy for me to rebuild it from scratch (and I have never done that). What do you think? Still worth it than waiting for a fix? — Khalil Khalaf, Jun 08 '16 at 13:37
I don't think a "fix" is going to be forthcoming if the project file is corrupted. It is not actually a big deal to recreate it. None of the files are actually saved into the project file. A project file is just a container that links to all of the associated documents. The only thing you stand to lose by deleting the project are some configuration settings. Those are easy to copy over. But I guess if you've never done it before and don't know anything about how project files work, it would be kind of scary. Not sure what to advise, other than make a backup! — Cody Gray - on strike, Jun 08 '16 at 13:40
@FirstStep some anti-virus software gets in the way of disk access. — Daniel A. White, Jun 08 '16 at 13:41
@Daniel oh. I do not have an anti virus installed, so.. yeah. Also I usually maintain a good treat for my machine. No public access, no unknown downloads, no unknown USBs, no unknown installations.. etc. Thanks Dan :) — Khalil Khalaf, Jun 08 '16 at 13:43
Nobody mentioned an extension may be involved, so I will. Extensions don't load in safe mode. Try turning off every extension you can and attempt to repro. And if you get desperate don't forget http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34095134/visual-studio-is-acting-weird-how-do-i-fix-this — , Jun 08 '16 at 15:54
@Will thanks for the informative link mate, looks like you struggled same like me :D I got my solution you should see posted answer ! — Khalil Khalaf, Jun 09 '16 at 18:36

Khalil Khalaf · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-23T17:54:37.803

12

Designer stopped freezing once I deleted the content of this folder:

C:\Users\ ...\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0

edited Mar 23 '17 at 17:54

answered Jun 09 '16 at 18:35

Khalil Khalaf

9,259
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Well, in some ways, thats disappointing.. So, it had hosed its own files.. But, also great to know you found a solution... – BugFinder Jun 09 '16 at 18:39
Its hosed = its broken. So, it broke itself by some settings or config files it then didnt like – BugFinder Jun 09 '16 at 18:40
Yes, but with all that ms have behind them, if you had manually edited the files.. Fine, maybe you typed in something bad, but when the app puts stuff in its own files stopping it from working. Thats poor show. Thats whats disapointing – BugFinder Jun 09 '16 at 18:43
11

By deleting the above content all my VS extensions have been removed. – Gianpiero Nov 14 '16 at 13:25
@GianpieroCaretti I think if you remove only the Designer folder then the problem will be fixed – Khalil Khalaf Jun 21 '18 at 18:45

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

3

This solve my problem : Visual Studio 2015 crashes

Also you can see this link: You experience performance issues, product crashes, or rendering issues in Visual Studio 2015 and Visual Studio 2013

edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

Community

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answered May 01 '17 at 07:09

Osama AbuSitta

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Also the exact problem was described and solved here: [Visual Studio freezing (crashing) while loading solution](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39703475/visual-studio-freezing-crashing-while-loading-solution) – krypru Jan 24 '18 at 08:00

Why Visual Studio 2015 freezes crashes hangs on Designer view?

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