Cannot add reference on Visual Studio 2017 project

Question

I'm using Visual Studio 2017 and trying to add a new reference between two projects, however I get following error when I click on "Add Reference..."

Cannot find an instance of the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.IVsReferenceManager service.

The first project is Asp.Net Core, and the second project is a .NET Core Class Library.

Have you opened **each** project using VS2017 before trying to add the reference? — Svek, May 24 '17 at 15:15

score 14 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 27 '18 at 09:38

I had this issue with all my projects after installing another version of Visual Studio.

I fixed it by following 宝宝徐's advice here, namely running the following commands in command prompt:

CD C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies
gacutil -i Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.11.0.dll

I found out that on my machine (Windows 10 x64), apparently gacutil is no longer bundled with new versions of Windows, so retrieved it from a previously installed Microsoft Windows SDK which I found at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin, although I think you may need to install it first. There are some thoughts here about finding gacutil on Windows 10.

After this, I was able to add references to projects again.

Hope that helps someone.

This worked for me. I just copied the gacutil files over to the visual studio folder specified above(but in my case was for 2019) and then it worked. Thanks! — AxleWack, Feb 05 '20 at 10:53
once command executed successfully, please restart visual studio — Somnath Kadam, Mar 31 '20 at 11:22

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 13 '17 at 22:35

4

You can go into the csproj of the project you wish to add the reference to and add the following xml

<ItemGroup>
 <ProjectReference Include="..\path\to\your\other.csproj" />
</ItemGroup>

That will add the reference to the other project.

answered Jun 13 '17 at 22:35

TerribleDev

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And it is also possible to walk to work in the event your car doesn't start. This isn't a solution, just a workaround that will quickly get tiresome. – TernaryTopiary Jul 27 '18 at 09:33
1

You are right, it is a work around. Although it doesn't negate the fact that it does work for this case. Also, its how I've always managed my project references. I think GUI's are more tiresome than appending a line to a file. To each there own.... – TerribleDev Jul 28 '18 at 03:31

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 06 '20 at 19:19

=>Run the "developer Command Prompt as administrator"

=>Goto the path "CD C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\20XX\Enterprise\Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies"

N.B : 20XX=2017,2019 etc and Enterprise=Enterprise,Community etc

=>Run gacutil -i Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.11.0.dll

=>Restart your pc

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 22 '20 at 06:05

1

I had similar error after migrating Visual Studio 2017 project to Visual Studio 2019. In my case I used Visual Studio Installer and under features there was Visual Studio SDK which was unchecked. After installing that, problem gone.

answered Sep 22 '20 at 06:05

Krzysztof Gapski

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 11 '20 at 10:53

0

In my case it was just easier to go to NuGet and Browse for Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.11.0 then add.

answered Aug 11 '20 at 10:53

Terry H

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Cannot add reference on Visual Studio 2017 project

5 Answers5