How to completely uninstall VS 2012 RC?

Question

How do I completely and thoroughly uninstall VS 2012 RC?

VS 2012 RC Setup -> Uninstall seems to be insufficient, in that after an uninstall / reinstall cycle, VS 2012 RC hangs on startup.

VS 2012 RC has rendered itself unusable on my Win7 x64 Pro computer.

Related thread:  http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vssetup/thread/21444cff-5171-4d14-9c15-a4dd9d5be012/#392a323a-4d19-41ce-bf65-2e54ae155129

Answer 1

Win7 x64 Pro.

Several days ago VS2012 RC hung while compiling a C# solution.  Since then, it hangs on starting up. 

I have uninstalled and re-installed VS 2012 RC twice; it still hangs on startup.  Here's the information from the last attempt to run VS2012 RC:

 

Problem Signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
  Application Name: devenv.exe
  Application Version: 11.0.50522.1
  Application Timestamp: 4fbb0839
  Fault Module Name: msenv.dll
  Fault Module Version: 11.0.50522.1
  Fault Module Timestamp: 4fbb084f
  Exception Code: c0000005
  Exception Offset: 0040300d
  OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
  Locale ID: 1033
  Additional Information 1: 0a9e
  Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
  Additional Information 3: 0a9e
  Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

Any suggestions on how to fix this?  

Answer 2

Hi ccb2010,

Welcome to the MSDN forum.

Here are some common steps: 

First do the following to reset templates:

If your OS is Win 7:

•    Clear your %temp% folder, they are all temp files. Ignore those files you cannot delete.
•    We may need to reset templates. Open Windows Explorer, and navigate to  <Visual Studio Installation Path>\Common7\IDE (by default      x86 OS C:\Program Files \Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE                 x64 OS C:\Program Files(x86) \Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE ); 
•    Delete the ItemTemplatesCache, ProjectTemplatesCache folder; 
•    Open Visual Studio Command Prompt (2012) under Start menu -> All Programs -> Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 -> Visual Studio Tools (run it with Administrator privilege: right-click the program -> Run as administrator); 
•    Run the devenv /InstallVSTemplates switch
•    Run the devenv /Setup switch

If reset templates did no help, try reset Visual Studio

•    Open Visual Studio Command Prompt (2012) under Start menu -> All Programs -> Microsoft Visual Studio 2012  -> Visual Studio Tools (run it with Administrator privilege: right-click the program -> Run as administrator); 
•    Try some devenv switches in command prompt:
     a. Run devenv /Resetsettings to eliminate the cause of corrupted settings.
     b. Run devenv /ResetSkipPkgs in Command Prompt.
     c. Run devenv /Safemode to see if you can apply it correctly. This can eliminate the possibility that third party Add-ins or packages are causing problems.
•    Switch and try a new user account. This can rule out the possibility of corrupted user profile.

If you OS is Win 8, try to use All APPs page and open the prompt.

Also, you can try to run setup to repair Visual Studio.

If you have any updates ,feel free to let me know.

Thanks,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 3

Thanks for the reply.

I"m confused, though:  my issue is with VS2012, but your instructions refer to using the VS2010 command prompt.  Is that correct?

I will try reinstalling VS2012 RC today, and follow your instructions using the VS2012 command prompt.

Answer 4

Hi ccb2010,

Sorry for my mistake. I will modify them to VS2012, but the command is right. You can use devenv command with VS2012.

You can take this page as a reference http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xee0c8y7(v=vs.110).aspx

Also,please tell me if you have any updates after reinstallation.

Thanks,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 5

Followed all steps, but 

devenv /ResetSkipPkgs

crashes:

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
  Application Name: devenv.exe
  Application Version: 11.0.50522.1
  Application Timestamp: 4fbb0839
  Fault Module Name: msenv.dll
  Fault Module Version: 11.0.50522.1
  Fault Module Timestamp: 4fbb084f
  Exception Code: c0000005
  Exception Offset: 0040300d
  OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
  Locale ID: 1033
  Additional Information 1: 0a9e
  Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
  Additional Information 3: 0a9e
  Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

Starting with /SafeMode, I get this message in the Output window:

An exception was encountered while constructing the content of this frame.  This information is also logged in "C:\Users\Charles\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\ActivityLog.xml".

Exception details:
System.Exception: Exception of type 'System.Exception' was thrown.
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.IVsShell5.LoadPackageWithContext(Guid& packageGuid, Int32 reason, Guid& context)
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Platform.WindowManagement.WindowFrame.GetPackage()
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Platform.WindowManagement.WindowFrame.ConstructContent()

Trying to start VS2012 RC w/o /SafeMode continues to crash.

Answer 6

I have run VS2012 RC Setup->Repair.  Rebooted computer.  VS2012 RC crashes on startup.

I then followed all the steps you outlined; VS2012 RC crashes running "devenv /Resetsettings".

It appears VS2012 RC has rendered itself utterly unusable on my Win7x64 Pro computer.  Brilliant.

Answer 7

When I start with "devenv /safemode", I get this message:

"The 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.Labs.SolutionNavigatorPackage, SolutionNavigator, Version=10.0.0.2, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=blah' package did not load correctly.



Answer 8

Hi ccb2010,

Sorry for my late follow up.

To remove Visual Studio 2012RC completely, the only tool now is the setup.

Please report this issue to Connect https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/content/content.aspx?ContentID=27774

Or I'll help you to report this issue.

Regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 9

Running devenv as administrator worked in my case.

Answer 10

Running devenv as administrator worked in my case.

Thanks for the reply.  Could you clarify what "worked" -- devenv.exe started w/o crashing?

Answer 11

Hi ccb2010,

Have you tried to reboot your OS from safe mode?

Most of Visual Studio crash issues were because Add-ins(Extension), packages, third party software.

If you can open Visual Studio on Safe mode, I suggest you remove all add-ins and packages, then close other process one by one to find out the specific third party software.

Regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 12

Have you tried to reboot your OS from safe mode?

Most of Visual Studio crash issues were because Add-ins(Extension), packages, third party software.

If you can open Visual Studio on Safe mode, I suggest you remove all add-ins and packages, then close other process one by one to find out the specific third party software.

Thanks for the reply.

It sounds like you are saying that when I uninstall and reinstall VS2012 RC, it will find and use whatever add-ins or extensions it finds already in place, w/o the user doing anything to install them in the new VS2012 installation.  Is that correct?

I'll try starting my Win7x64 Pro computer in safe mode and see what happens...

Answer 13

Hi ccb2010,

You issue seems like this:

1. Your Visual Studio crashed after compile a project

2. You tried to repair Visual Studio but failed

3. All reset Visual Studio options have no difference

4. Uninstall and install did no help

Maybe Visual Studio haven't uninstall completely so it remember some settings you did before. 

For example, you have installed an  extension which made Visual Studio crashed.(This can happen if some packages failed to load) After re-install Visual Studio , it tried to load that extension. Then Visual Studio crashed on start-up.

In order to solve this issue, I recommend you reboot your OS to safe-mode.  Those entensions you installed won't be load. It means you can open Visual Studio and remove those extensions.

Please try to reboot to safemode to test this issue.

Regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 14

Hi ccb2010,

How is your issue now?

Regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 15

Hi ccb2010,

How is your issue now?

Regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Unchanged.  The boys over at Connect for VS2012 got some information from me, but I have heard nothing since.  VS2012 RC is still completely wedged -- can't run, can't uninstall, can't re-install.

Answer 16

Hi ccb2010,

Would you please share the Connect link with me?

Regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 17

Hi ccb2010,

Would you please share the Connect link with me?

Regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/754049/vs2012-rc-uninstall-reinstall-doesnt-resolve-vs2012-crash-problem

Answer 18

I'm having what seems like an increasing number of appcrashes in VS 2012, the program crashes at least twice per hour, sometimes crashes 3-4 times in a row, which I assume is because of some thing I'm trying to change or have open.

I'm noticing the issues seem to occur when I'm tabbing between apps with VS open, this is especially problematic when I'm in a debug session at a break point.

I have 2 monitors and the issue seems to occur when I tab to an open windows on my 2nd desktop.

Answer 19

I too face a similar issue with VS 2012 premium version. A couple of days back, Visual Studio crashed while debugging something. Since then it keeps on crashing everytime I change anything in the code or de a debug. Below is the problem log it shows. I freed up good aount of space on my disk, and then repaired VS 2010 Premium. Still the problem persist. Will be reinstalling the software but it seems from this post that this will also not help. Please let me know if a solution was found to this issue.

I am runnint it on Win Server 2008 R2 machine

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
  Application Name: devenv.exe
  Application Version: 11.0.50727.1
  Application Timestamp: 5011ecaa
  Fault Module Name: msenv.dll
  Fault Module Version: 11.0.50727.1
  Fault Module Timestamp: 5011ecbd
  Exception Code: c0000005
  Exception Offset: 000a292a
  OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.274.10
  Locale ID: 1033
  Additional Information 1: 0a9e
  Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
  Additional Information 3: 0a9e
  Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

---

Ruchir

Answer 20

I too am facing the same issue. Unable to get the visual studio to work.

An exception was encountered while constructing the content of this frame.  This information is also logged in "C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\ActivityLog.xml".

Exception details:

System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80004005): Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component.

   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.IVsShell5.LoadPackageWithContext(Guid& packageGuid, Int32 reason, Guid& context)

   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Platform.WindowManagement.WindowFrame.GetPackage()

   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Platform.WindowManagement.WindowFrame.ConstructContent()

---

mohit narang