CSS Source Editor won't open in Visual Studio 2010 Professional

Question

The title more or less says it all.  I'm trying to open a .css file from my App_Theme folder and when I click the file I get an alert box which reads, "The Operation could not be completed.  Unspecified Error"

Things I've tried:

1. Double-clicking the .css file
2. Right-clicking the .css file and trying to open with CSS Source Editor
3. Rebooting my machine.
4. Creating a new project to see if this is localized to my current project 
5. Reinstalled Visual Studio 2010 Professional (via Repair function, which triggered a new download of the software.)

Does anyone have a suggestion for fixing this?  Is there a way I can download a new CSS Source Editor in hopes it'll over-write the one that isn't loading?

Answer 1

Hi Rockstarter,

 

Welcome to the MSDN forum.

 

First, could you please try to open the .css file on any other computer to see if the problem is related to your .css file?

 

Here are my suggestions:

·         Please try to run devenv /ResetSettings (in command prompt) to eliminate the related potential settings problem.

·         Try disabling Add-ins (e.g. “Tools” | “Add-in Manager”) or run “devenv.exe /SafeMode”.This can eliminate the possibility that third party Add-ins or packages are causing problems. (For more detailed VS command line switches information, see: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xee0c8y7.aspx)

·         Try creating a new project. Sometimes corrupted project settings can cause problems. These are project specific.

·         Try to create a new user account. This can help isolate user profile corruption related causes.

 

If the problem is not be resolved after these steps, could you please collect the crash information using devenv switch?

First, we should create the log file.(Start Menu>>Run>>Type “devenv /Log”) After this step, the log file has been created. Please try to open the .css file as usual. Then We can open the file.(Start Menu>>Run>>Type “%APPDATA%\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\ActivityLog.xml.”) Then you can send the ActivityLog.xml to me. (E-mail: v-alsun_at_microsoft_dot_com)

Note: Please attach the link of this post in the mail.

 

If you have any other concerns, please feel free to let me know.

 

Best Regards,

---

Alexander Sun [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Get or Request Code Sample from Microsoft
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 2

Hey Alexander,

I copied my solution over to another machine and the .css file opened without problems.   I tried your suggestions and nothing worked so I'm sending you the activity log.  When I opened visual studio I clicked the .css file and got the error.  I went to the folder in AppData where the .xml file was held and I saw the size was 0kb, so I tried opening it.  It said another app had it locked (Visual Studio) so I went back into visual studio and clicked the .css file again.  Then I closed visual studio.

Just wanted to explain that in case you see two attempts to open the .css in the log I sent to you.

Answer 3

Hi Rockstarter,

 

Thank you for your reply.

 

Based on your log, there are no fatal error at all. In my opinion, this problem probably caused by corrupt files of Visual Studio. Thus I recommend you uninstall your Visual Studio via Visual Studio 2010 Uninstall Utility: http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2010uninstall

Please run this tool as the complete mode:

Complete (VS2010_Uninstall-RTM.ENU.exe /full /netfx)

Removes entire set of Visual Studio 2010 and supporting products, including Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 and components shared with previous versions of Visual Studio. Note: may break features of previous versions of Visual Studio or other products taking dependency on Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0.

 

Second, follow these steps to install Visual Studio 2010:

• Please download the ISO files of Visual Studio 2010 Professional from here: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/try
• Extract the ISO files to your local hard disk.
• Complete or dismiss Windows Updates before installation (but turn on Windows Update service).
• Clean up your “%temp%” folder (Start>>Run>>%temp%).
• Check if there are any anti-virus or antispyware applications running. Make sure they are turned off during installation.
• Run the setup file with Administrator privileges: Right-click the installer > Run as administrator.

 

If you have any other concerns, please feel free to let me know.

 

Best Regards,

---

Alexander Sun [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Get or Request Code Sample from Microsoft
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 4

Hi Alexander,

I have the same problem. I found out it happens after installing the visual studio lightswitch beta 2. Right after installing this the default CSS Source Editor is not working anymore.

Can you find a proper solution?

Thnx,

Gerrit

Answer 5

Hi Gerrit,

 

Welcome to the MSDN forum.

 

First, I recommend you create a new thread to ask your question. If everything will be ok after you uninstall Visual Studio LightSwitch Beta 2, I recommend you go to the Visual Studio LightSwitch forum to ask for helps.

 

Thanks.

 

Best Regards,

---

Alexander Sun [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Get or Request Code Sample from Microsoft
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 6

Hi all, will try to uninstall since nothing else seems to work for me.

Just wanted to let Alexander know that the same started to happen to me after the the Windows Azure tools were installed.

Regards

---

http://bit.ly/sebagomez

Answer 7

Hi Sebastian,

 

Thank you for your sharing.

 

Rockstarter, could you please try to check if you have installed Windows Azure Tools?

 

If you have any other concerns, please feel free to let me know.

 

Best Regards,

---

Alexander Sun [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Get or Request Code Sample from Microsoft
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 8

emailing you with my dump!

Answer 9

I've run into the same issue after installing the "Windows Phone Developer Tools 7.0" and then having to reinstall SP1 for visual studio.  Still looking for a solution short of reinstalling.  I've created a log an there were no obvious issues there.

Answer 10

Did you install the Web Standards Update for Visual Studio 2010 SP1? It was released about two weeks before your (Rockstarter) original post and promised all kinds of great enhancements for HTML 5 and CSS3. For me one enhancement was I could no longer edit .css files in Visual Studio 2010 or Visual Web Developer Express 2010. Once I uninstalled that update my .css editing worked in both tools again.

Link to the update:

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a15c3ce9-f58f-42b7-8668-53f6cdc2cd83

 

 

Answer 11

Did you install the Web Standards Update for Visual Studio 2010 SP1? It was released about two weeks before your (Rockstarter) original post and promised all kinds of great enhancements for HTML 5 and CSS3. For me one enhancement was I could no longer edit .css files in Visual Studio 2010 or Visual Web Developer Express 2010. Once I uninstalled that update my .css editing worked in both tools again.

Link to the update:

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a15c3ce9-f58f-42b7-8668-53f6cdc2cd83

 

 

This solved it for me.

Answer 12

This solved it for me.

x2

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Sincerely,
Todd M. Taylor

Answer 13

Did you install the Web Standards Update for Visual Studio 2010 SP1? It was released about two weeks before your (Rockstarter) original post and promised all kinds of great enhancements for HTML 5 and CSS3. For me one enhancement was I could no longer edit .css files in Visual Studio 2010 or Visual Web Developer Express 2010. Once I uninstalled that update my .css editing worked in both tools again.

Link to the update:

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a15c3ce9-f58f-42b7-8668-53f6cdc2cd83

 

 

This solved the same problem (unable to edit .css files in Visual Studio 2010) for me as well.

Answer 14

Did you install the Web Standards Update for Visual Studio 2010 SP1? It was released about two weeks before your (Rockstarter) original post and promised all kinds of great enhancements for HTML 5 and CSS3. For me one enhancement was I could no longer edit .css files in Visual Studio 2010 or Visual Web Developer Express 2010. Once I uninstalled that update my .css editing worked in both tools again.

Link to the update:

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a15c3ce9-f58f-42b7-8668-53f6cdc2cd83

 

 

I re-downloaded this and ran repair and it worked for me. Thank you.

---

Mastro

Answer 15

Just to give an update since I vanished from this thread... 

I resolved the issue before 3 Putt Bogey's reply by backing up all my projects and doing a complete re-installation of Visual Studio.  I'd certainly try the solution proposed by 3 Putt before going through the re-install.

To follow up with Alexander's question about Azure... I don't believe that I had that installed.  It's been so long though.

Answer 16

Did you install the Web Standards Update for Visual Studio 2010 SP1? It was released about two weeks before your (Rockstarter) original post and promised all kinds of great enhancements for HTML 5 and CSS3. For me one enhancement was I could no longer edit .css files in Visual Studio 2010 or Visual Web Developer Express 2010. Once I uninstalled that update my .css editing worked in both tools again.

Link to the update:

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a15c3ce9-f58f-42b7-8668-53f6cdc2cd83

 

 

Solved for me too... thanks

---

http://bit.ly/sebagomez

Answer 17

Did you install the Web Standards Update for Visual Studio 2010 SP1? It was released about two weeks before your (Rockstarter) original post and promised all kinds of great enhancements for HTML 5 and CSS3. For me one enhancement was I could no longer edit .css files in Visual Studio 2010 or Visual Web Developer Express 2010. Once I uninstalled that update my .css editing worked in both tools again.

Link to the update:

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a15c3ce9-f58f-42b7-8668-53f6cdc2cd83

 

 

Just thought I'd throw in that this fixed the issue for me as well. Thanks for sharing.

Answer 18

Did you install the Web Standards Update for Visual Studio 2010 SP1? It was released about two weeks before your (Rockstarter) original post and promised all kinds of great enhancements for HTML 5 and CSS3. For me one enhancement was I could no longer edit .css files in Visual Studio 2010 or Visual Web Developer Express 2010. Once I uninstalled that update my .css editing worked in both tools again.

Link to the update:

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a15c3ce9-f58f-42b7-8668-53f6cdc2cd83

 

 

Yet another thank you, solved it for me post:

I'll add a little bit: I went to VS -> Tools -> Extension Manager. The Web Standard update wasn't listed as installed. I then went to the Online gallery and found it. I tried to install it, and was prompted to remove or repair. Repair repeatedly gave a strange network error. Finally I removed the extension. This worked, and my CSS opened.

Then I went pack through the same path and installed the Web Standards Update extension. It installed successfully, and I can still open my .css file.

 

 

Answer 19

Exactly, it works for me too!!!! Thanks a lot for sharing the solution.

Answer 20

******* This is a very cool tool and works fine when:


I uninstalled the VS2010 SDK and installed VS2010 SDK SP1 (install says delete old sdk unlike other service packs) and everything works as should. Super great tool guys. Thanks.

Great tool like CSSCop. Collasping regions are a time saver and the display of the file contents is way easier on my eyes - out of box.

Answer 21

After installing Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1, I began receiving the "The Operation could not be completed.  Unspecified Error" message when attempting to open CSS files. Surprisingly, installing the Web Standards Update for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 SP1 caused it to start working again.

Hope this helps others.

 

Answer 22

I had same problem than I installed  this and it solved my problem.

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/7211bcac-091b-4a32-be2d-e797be0db210

Answer 23

I just finished installing the MVC 4 beta and all CSS files stopped opening with Visual Studio. They threw errors. They open fine with Notepad.

I had previously installed http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/7211bcac-091b-4a32-be2d-e797be0db210. I ran the repair tool from the install package and that solved my problem.

CSS files open successfully after running the repair.

Answer 24

"Update for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 (KB2635973)" installed last night and caused the editor to stop working again.

Running CSS 3 Intellisense Schema repair (http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/7211bcac-091b-4a32-be2d-e797be0db210 described below in hbb akckle's post) fixed it.

Answer 25

Thank you! 

Solved the problem for me

Answer 26

Well, here's another wrinkle. I've tried installing and re-installing the Web Standards Update any number of times, and as long as it is installed, CSS files will not open with the proper editor. They will open as text files, except that defeats the entire purpose of having a CSS editor. I have also installed and removed the Intellisense add-on, and it did not fix the problem.

HOWEVER, if I run Visual Studio as Administrator, then it all works. This says to me that somebody screwed up big-time and has embedded some kind of permissions issue in the code. I have not yet attempted to uninstall and re-install all of Visual Studio with Service Packs and patches, because I am in the middle of a very tight project, and don't feel like spending the time. I may have no choice, but there is no proof that this will actually fix anything.

I am adamantly opposed to running any development tool in admiinistrator mode, since there should never be any need for this. If you can't build code as a normal user, then there is a problem with teh development tool.

Norm

Answer 27

I think it would be about time MSFT would fix this - I've just installed web standards update and the same error - .css files cannot be opened anymore. @Aleksander Sun - this is most definitely an errror and not a corrupted VS install, unless web standards update corrupted it. After removing this update css editor works again. 

Answer 28

Hi,

A user above got a solution from: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/br/vseditor/thread/0a01d1d5-e9ba-49f9-a3f8-46b39108fa0d

Installing the web standards update failed as a newer version is already installed. Always happens when Microsoft release a Windows Update for VS 2010.

The devenv /reset... never worked for me. All it done was run and add the start page which I checked to remove at startup

Like another user, copy to another machine and the css works fine

Create a new profile on the problem machine and still cannot open css files but projects are fine

Any ideas?

---

Crouchie
-------------
Homepage
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Answer 29

Received the same error again today - for the 3rd time - after automatic updates!

Running CSS 3 Intellisense repair once again fixed it.

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/7211bcac-091b-4a32-be2d-e797be0db210

Answer 30

It would really be nice if Microsoft released an update to Visual Studio that DID NOT break the original install.  I've been pulling my hair out with this for the last six hours.  Nothing suggested is working on my end.  The SharePoint team must have been contributing to this release.

Answer 31

I had the same problem today after Installing latest Windows 7 updates.

Running CSS 3 Intellisense repair once again fixed it.

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/7211bcac-091b-4a32-be2d-e797be0db210

This solution worked for me.

Answer 32

Installing the Web Standards Update solved the issue for me as well.

Thanks!

Answer 33

I was getting the "The operation could not be completed" when trying to run a project. The project was located on a corporate network drive.

I moved the project to my C drive and it worked without problem or modification.

Answer 34

Removal of the Web Standards Update for Visual Studio SP1 was the only thing that worked for me too (i tried the proposed solutions and i used the original ánd the latest installer to try to repair it, but that gave this error: 'Can't access network-related resource'...)
I installed it in March 2012 by the way.

After that i reinstalled it, using the link above and everything was well again.
CSS3 and HTML5 support is still a great enhancement!

---

Michael Bakker

Answer 35

Rockstarter,

I was having the same problem after installing Visual Studio 2010 SP1 update. 

I followed the link provided by 3 Putt Bogey, uninstalled the Web Standards Update for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 SP1 and now my CSS EDitor works as it should.

Thank you 3 Putt Bogey!!!!! 

Answer 36

Did you install the Web Standards Update for Visual Studio 2010 SP1? It was released about two weeks before your (Rockstarter) original post and promised all kinds of great enhancements for HTML 5 and CSS3. For me one enhancement was I could no longer edit .css files in Visual Studio 2010 or Visual Web Developer Express 2010. Once I uninstalled that update my .css editing worked in both tools again.

Link to the update:

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a15c3ce9-f58f-42b7-8668-53f6cdc2cd83

 

 

Yet another thank you, solved it for me post:

I'll add a little bit: I went to VS -> Tools -> Extension Manager. The Web Standard update wasn't listed as installed. I then went to the Online gallery and found it. I tried to install it, and was prompted to remove or repair. Repair repeatedly gave a strange network error. Finally I removed the extension. This worked, and my CSS opened.

Then I went pack through the same path and installed the Web Standards Update extension. It installed successfully, and I can still open my .css file.

 

 

This solved the issue for me as well.  List of steps:

• Close Visual Studio
• Get the latest Web Standards Update MSI from its Visual Studio Gallery Page.
• Open "Web Standards Update.msi"
• Select the "Repair Web Standards Update for Visual Studio 2010 SP1" option
• Click Finish
• Watch progress bars flicker
  
• On the "Installation Complete" screen, click the "Close" button
• Open Visual Studio
• Open a css file
• It should display in the css editor

Hopefully future updates won't break the editor.

Answer 37

I had same problem than I installed  this and it solved my problem.

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/7211bcac-091b-4a32-be2d-e797be0db210

Had the same problem and this solved it for me. :) Much easier than re-installing other stuff.

Answer 38

I was having the same issue and found that by going to the Tools -> Extension Manager -> Online Gallery and search for/install the "Web Standards Update for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 sp1" I was able to open CSS files again.