Visual Studio Database Tools Error

Question

Hi,

I have a problem when trying to use the database tools in the Server Explorer of VS 2010 SP1.

I can add a connection to a database in my local SQL Express 2008 R2 SP1 instance fine, but whenever I right click in order to do something (New Query, for example), I get the error "The specified module could not be found. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007007E)".

Something must be broken or missing, but I cannot figure out what that is.

Any ideas?

Thanks.
Justin

Answer 1

Hello Justin,

I have VS2010 Ultimate+SP1 installed on my machine, however I can’t reproduce the same issue as you, I can New Query or do some other operations successfully in the Server Explorer.

I agree with you that maybe you missed some assemblies or components of your VS2010.

Please take a look at the event logs in the Event Viewer to see if there is something useful and then post it here. In addition, you can also the collect.exe tool to collect the VS logs (%TEMP%\vslogs.cab) and then share it on your SkyDrive or some public site where I can get that file. I would like to take a deep look at your log files.

Thanks.

---

Vicky Song [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 2

Hi Vicky,

Thanks for the reply.

I forgot to mention that I previously had SQL 2012 RC0 installed, but completely uninstalled it and reinstalled SQL 2008 R2 with SP1. I believe 2012 may have broken things.

But when uninstalling 2012, I also uninstalled and reinstalled VS 2010. So I wouldn't expect the problem to still persist IF it was caused by 2012?

Please find my VS logs here: https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=0c72520584f415b2&resid=C72520584F415B2!586&parid=C72520584F415B2!197

Any further feedback based on the above will be most appreciated.

Thanks.
Justin

Answer 3

Hello Justin,

Sorry for my late response.

Do you mean once you uninstall SQL 2012 RC0 and reinstall SQL 2008 R2 + SP1 and VS2010 you will not get that issue again? I would like to reproduce the same issue as you on my side.

Actually I did a look at your VS logs these days, however, I can’t find anything useful to deal with your issue. And please also take a look at the event logs on the Event Viewer and post here something useful.

Thanks.

---

Vicky Song [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 4

Hi Vicky,

No worries.

No, the problem persists after fully uninstalling RC0 and installing 2008 R2. The problem originally started when I installed RC0.

I assume that means that there is some artifact of RC0 that is still there that is causing the problem.

There is nothing useful in the Event Logs. It was the first place I looked.

If I knew exactly what these data tools are dependent on (an application installation, files in a directory, or registry entries, etc.), I feel like I should be able to either reinstall the specific application, clean out some registry entries, check that files exist in a location, etc. But I can't find any info on this.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Justin

Answer 5

I'm experiencing the same issue as well. Do update me if there is any resolution to the problem.

Answer 6

Will do. Still no solution as yet.

Answer 7

Also seem to be experiencing the same issue.

Answer 8

Hi,

 

I also am seeing the same issue after installing VS2010 SP1 & SSDT CTP4 when I try to open the DSV of an Analysis Services project in VS2010 (Premium edition) I get the following error:

 

===================================

An error prevented the view from loading. (Microsoft Visual Studio)

===================================

The specified module could not be found. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007007E) (System.Windows.Forms)

------------------------------
Program Location:

   at System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.CoCreateInstance(Guid& clsid, Object punkOuter, Int32 context, Guid& iid)
   at System.Windows.Forms.AxHost.CreateWithLicense(String license, Guid clsid)
   at System.Windows.Forms.AxHost.CreateInstanceCore(Guid clsid)
   at System.Windows.Forms.AxHost.CreateInstance()
   at System.Windows.Forms.AxHost.GetOcxCreate()
   at System.Windows.Forms.AxHost.TransitionUpTo(Int32 state)
   at System.Windows.Forms.AxHost.CreateHandle()
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl()
   at Microsoft.DataWarehouse.Design.ComponentDiagram.CreateDdsView(Control parentControl)
   at Microsoft.AnalysisServices.Design.DataSourceDesignerView..ctor(DataSourceDesigner designer, DataSourceDiagram diagram, IComponent diagramOwnerComponent)
   at Microsoft.AnalysisServices.Design.DataSourceDesignerView..ctor(DataSourceDesigner designer)
   at Microsoft.AnalysisServices.Design.DataSourceDesigner.CreateDataSourceDesignerView(VsStyleToolBar pageViewToolBar)
   at Microsoft.DataWarehouse.Design.EditorWindow.EnsureViewIsLoaded(EditorView view)

 

Regards,  Alan

---

Regards, Alan

Answer 9

I have solved this problem.

The problem seems to be with the Visual Database Tools DLL.

This DLL file is installed by the VS 2010 installation, but during a SQL Server 2012 installation, it will be upgraded to the SQL 2012 version of the tools. Thereafter, uninstalling and reinstalling SQL or VS will not remove this newer DLL in order to allow the older version to be installed, and hence leave this annoying issue.

How I fixed it was I set up a clean virtual machine and installed VS 2010, then took this original DLL from my virtual machine and overwrote the DLL on my live machine. Simple as that.

I would assume though that deleting this DLL file and then doing a VS 2010 repair or uninstall/reinstall would also fix the problem.

The directory and file name of the DLL (on an X64 machine) is: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Visual Database Tools\dsref80.dll

Answer 10

Hi Justin,

 

I have implemented your solution but it does not solve my issues with opening the data source view / dimension views on a SSAS 2008 R2 cube.  Looks like I will have to try a complete reinstall into a clean VM.

 

Regards,

 

 

Alan

---

Regards, Alan

Answer 11

Hi Alan,

Your problem is SSDT-related which is different to mine

My problem was with trying to get VS 2010 SP1 visual database tools and SQL 2008 R2 to work together again after uninstalling SQL 2012 RC0 and the new SSDT.

I suggest posting a new thread of your problem on the SSDT forum - http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ssdt/threads

Regards,
Justin

Answer 12

You were spot on Justin, thank you! For the benefit of others, I installed and later uninstalled Visual Studio 11 Beta (which includes SQL Server 2012) but the uninstall should have removed the file C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Visual Database Tools\dsref80.dll and put back the original VS 2010 version with the same name... But it left the VS-11 version there and this caused all kinds of issues in both VS2010 and SSMS.

Please right-click and select properties on that file and in the Details tab, in the "Product Name" field, you should see "Microsoft Visual Studio 2010". If you see "Visual Studio 11" then you need to obtain the VS 2010 version from a friend or as I did from my laptop and then overwrite the VS11 version.

No more Beta software for me!... :)

Answer 13

You were spot on Justin, thank you! For the benefit of others, I installed and later uninstalled Visual Studio 11 Beta (which includes SQL Server 2012) but the uninstall should have removed the file C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Visual Database Tools\dsref80.dll and put back the original VS 2010 version with the same name... But it left the VS-11 version there and this caused all kinds of issues in both VS2010 and SSMS.

Please right-click and select properties on that file and in the Details tab, in the "Product Name" field, you should see "Microsoft Visual Studio 2010". If you see "Visual Studio 11" then you need to obtain the VS 2010 version from a friend or as I did from my laptop and then overwrite the VS11 version.

No more Beta software for me!... :)

Wow! I've been googling around for days before I found this great "patch"! That was my case too: Installing VS2011 beta, removing it and losing every database related functions! Actually the version of my dsred80.dll was that of VS2011 beta, as you perfectely explained; It just took a simple vs2010 version dll restore to make everything work back again!

Thank you a lot and little shame on Microsoft beta uninstaller developper ;-)

---

GC73

Answer 14

I would assume though that deleting this DLL file and then doing a VS 2010 repair or uninstall/reinstall would also fix the problem.

Thank you Justin! I can confirm that simply doing a reinstall/repair after deleting the file, also works!

Answer 15

Thank you!!  I narrowed it down to something in regards to installing and uninstalling VS 2011 Beta, but no amount of reinstall, repair, etc. fixed the issue for my VS 2010 instance, but deleting the DLL from the location you posted and repairing eventually worked! I too will refrain from beta testing on anything but a VM instance. :(

---

DelaCombo

Answer 16

I have solved this problem.

The problem seems to be with the Visual Database Tools DLL.

This DLL file is installed by the VS 2010 installation, but during a SQL Server 2012 installation, it will be upgraded to the SQL 2012 version of the tools. Thereafter, uninstalling and reinstalling SQL or VS will not remove this newer DLL in order to allow the older version to be installed, and hence leave this annoying issue.

How I fixed it was I set up a clean virtual machine and installed VS 2010, then took this original DLL from my virtual machine and overwrote the DLL on my live machine. Simple as that.

I would assume though that deleting this DLL file and then doing a VS 2010 repair or uninstall/reinstall would also fix the problem.

The directory and file name of the DLL (on an X64 machine) is: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Visual Database Tools\dsref80.dll

Could you kindly provide a copy or a link to this dll as I most probably there are many like me that do not have a virtual machine installed ... :(

Answer 17

The DLL can be found here

Kind regards,

---

Justin Fortmann

Answer 18

Neither of these worked for me. I tried deleting that file and then repairing VS2010 - it replaced the file but didn't solve the problem. For grins, I also tried installing VS2010 in a VM and copying the file from there, but it was exactly the same as the one generated by the repair install.

Answer 19

My problem was largely the same.

I was unable to create database diagram. Visual Studio 2010 would just silently fail, but SQL Server Management Studio gave the error message "The specified module could not be found. (MS Visual Database Tools)". This happened after having tried (and removed) the new Visual Studio beta.

Your solution brought me in the right direction. But instead of the dsref80.dll file, my problem was the whole folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\MSDesigners8. After removing that folder and inserting a copy from a virtual machine (repairing VS would probably have worked also), everything is working again!

Thanks Justin for publishing your solution, and I hope mine can help the people Justin's didn't work for.

Answer 20

Hi Peter,

No problem, glad it helped!

Thanks for the extra feedback to add to this.

Regards,

Justin

---

Justin Fortmann

Answer 21

Hi Justin,

Is perfet your solution. It's work perfect. Now I am able to create database diagrams in MS SqlServer 2008.

Regards,

Alexandru Meca

Answer 22

Sweet... This worked for me. This has been an issue for about 8 months.  I was about to rebuild and thought I would check this post one more time.  Glad I did.

Thanks Peter for figuring this out.

Answer 23

After replacing the DLL it worked for me now i am happy and also my VS 2010 is also happy

Kind Regards

---

Vikas Nagil

Answer 24

PeterBr's solution helped me as well. Thanks everyone for your input!

Answer 25

The DLL can be found here

Kind regards,

---

Justin Fortmann

Resolvi o problema, ok. Obrigado

---

André Sombra

Answer 26

Thanks for the DLL

Answer 27

Great stuff Peter. That worked a treat. I have been putting up with issue for months now. The single dll did not work but as I kept reading I saw your post.

Thanks

Answer 28

Thx for the dll , problem solved =)

Answer 29

Hi everybody, I have the same problem, when I try to create a database diagram on ssms 2008 I had the 'Unspecified Error'. I try with the solution described before replacing the library dsref80.dll at path C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Visual Database Tools\ . But that did n't resolve my problem.

I have the description;

Unspecified error
 (MS Visual Database Tools)

------------------------------
Program Location:

   at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHRInternal(Int32 errorCode, IntPtr errorInfo)
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.VSIntegration.Editors.VirtualProject.CreateDesigner(Urn origUrn, DocumentType editorType, DocumentOptions aeOptions, IManagedConnection con, String fileName)
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.VSIntegration.Editors.VirtualProject.Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.VSIntegration.Editors.ISqlVirtualProject.CreateDesigner(Urn origUrn, DocumentType editorType, DocumentOptions aeOptions, IManagedConnection con, String fileName)
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.VSIntegration.Editors.ISqlVirtualProject.CreateDesigner(Urn origUrn, DocumentType editorType, DocumentOptions aeOptions, IManagedConnection con, String fileName)
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.VSIntegration.Editors.ScriptFactory.CreateDesigner(DocumentType editorType, DocumentOptions aeOptions, Urn parentUrn, IManagedConnection mc, String fileName)
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UI.VSIntegration.Editors.VsDocumentMenuItem.CreateDesignerWindow(IManagedConnection mc, DocumentOptions options)

Answer 30

Looks like you have the same problem as I had using SQl management studio. So try PeterBr's solution helped me as well.

Answer 31

Hi, Peter!!!

The same thing happened to me... I've tried your solution and it fixed my problem... Thanks a lot...

Answer 32

Thank you kindly.  This fixed the issue perfectly.

Answer 33

Thank you, Justin, for putting this into SkyDrive. It was SOOOOOOO much easier to get it from there than to jack around with reinstalling/repairing VS2010. All's well and I'm "tabling" again. 

I really appreciate your effort in doing this.

Answer 34

My pleasure

---

Justin Fortmann

Answer 35

I have exact same issue,VS 2010 pro, sp1 and sql server 2012 developer installed.

 I have I deleted everything in C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Visual Database Tools and MSdesigner8, Reapplied VS and sp1, still got the same error while trying to load a DSV :

The specified module could not be found (Exception from HRESULT: 0X8007007E) (System.Windows.Forms)

if I contine to create a cube from the dsc, the VS will just shut off.

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

Answer 36

I replaced all the DLLs in MSDesigner8 for the VS2010 version instead of the VS2012RC version and it worked fine

Answer 37

Thanks. I replaced the dsref80.dll and MSDesigners8 folder, then it works.

Thanks Heaps!

Answer 38

Thank you guys! Your solutions help me proceed with my job ) Thanks a lot!

Answer 39

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your solution. It helped me to overcome this problem.

Regards

Yaswin

Answer 40

I had SSMS for SQL Server 2008 R2 installed, and started having similar errors after installing/uninstalling  VS2012 Database Comparison Tools.

I tried Justin's recommendation but it did not work for me.

What did work was copying the entire folder:  "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\MSDesigners8",  from another machine with a working installation.  Now my SSMS designers work again.

Answer 41

Hi All,

we have received the same error:

"The specified module could not be found (Exception from HRESULT: 0X8007007E)"

while opening the DSV, Cube or dim under VS 2010 shell

resolution:

we also tried justin's recommendation but it didn't work for us.

Hence, copied the entire folder:"C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\MSDesigners8" from another machine (working installation files)

Ans then we are able to open the DSV, Cube and Dim using VS 2010 shell and it shows diagram properly without any issues.

Answer 42

hello PeterBr,

I guess I am having the same problem that you mentioned in you post. to be more specific let me know you my problem.

I am unable to create my database diagram like you were and every time I tried to do that it says "The specified module could be found (MS Visual Database Tools" 

and one thing more I have tried each and everything posted by justin but it could solve my problem..

Please Let me know what can I do to right this as I am tired of Installing and Re-installing each and everything from MS SQL SERVER Management Studio to MS VS 2010.

regards,

   

Answer 43

hello PeterBr,

I guess I am having the same problem that you mentioned in you post. to be more specific let me know you my problem.

I am unable to create my database diagram like you were and every time I tried to do that it says "The specified module could be found (MS Visual Database Tools" 

and one thing more I have tried each and everything posted by justin but it could solve my problem..

Please Let me know what can I do to right this as I am tired of Installing and Re-installing each and everything from MS SQL SERVER Management Studio to MS VS 2010.

regards,

   Problem solved :)

thanx to you Justin and mainly PeterBR 

Answer 44

The specified module could not be found. (MS Visual Database Tools)

You have to replace some of the files from your system.

For the solution please go through and download that files from the following link

http://harshgupta71.blogspot.in/2013/02/the-specified-module-could-not-be-found.html

Answer 45

that above worked for me too - many thanks

Answer 46

Thank you PeterBr, I try all solutions, but yours is the right one !

Answer 47

Hi Justin,

Thanks For this post. I resolved this issue. Its working great.

Thanks For All to this post.