visual studio 2012 hangs while preparing solution

Question

I am loading a large VS 2010 solution that we are not ready to convert forward yet. This wasn't a problem and the solution loaded fine until yesterday midday. I loaded a solution that had worked earlier that day and it just hung at "preparing solution".

<entry>
  <record>497</record>
  <time>2013/05/20 15:08:01.727</time>
  <type>Error</type>
  <source>Editor or Editor Extension</source>
  <description>
    System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
    at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Language.Intellisense.CompletionSet.MatchCompletionList(IList`1 completionList, CompletionMatchType matchType, Boolean caseSensitive)
    at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Language.Intellisense.CompletionSet.SelectBestMatch(CompletionMatchType matchType, Boolean caseSensitive)
    at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Editor.Implementation.ShimCompletionSet.SelectBestMatch()
    at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Language.Intellisense.Implementation.CompletionSession.Match()
    at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Language.Intellisense.Implementation.CompletionSession.OnViewBuffer_Changed(Object sender, TextContentChangedEventArgs e)
    at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Text.Utilities.GuardedOperations.RaiseEvent[TArgs](Object sender, EventHandler`1 eventHandlers, TArgs args)
  </description>
</entry>

It looks like something about intellisense is broken but I am not sure what could have happened. I wasn't making any system changes (that isn't to say IT could not have, as they push stealth changes at us sometimes). Other 2010 solutions work just fine and I can load the individual projects as well. Others on my team can load the solution also. I've tried repairing my installation of VS.2012 but I am still getting the error. I have deleted the solutions and retrieved them from source control several times and that does not seem to impact the issue.

Answer 1

Hello,

Try deleting the solution's .suo file, see if this stops the problem.

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Answer 2

Thanks Kevin, I had tried that. It did not work.

I am back to using VS 2010 until I can figure this out because (oddly) the solutions work just fine in 2010.

Answer 3

Hi,

I am back to using VS 2010 until I can figure this out because (oddly) the solutions work just fine in 2010.

So it still works well in VS2010 (installed the VS2010 SP1) now, am I right? If it works well, I suggest you use the VS2012 to update this app again. But if it has the same issue in VS2010, I’m afraid that it will be related to your app, I suggest you create a new app. Check it again.

To make sure that it is not the VS2012 installing issue, I suggest you remove and re-install your VS2012. 

Best Regards,

---

Jack Zhai [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Develop and promote your apps in Windows Store
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 4

Thank you for the reply Jack but your response make little sense to me. Yes, 2010 works perfectly fine with the solution (as stated above). When you refer to app do you mean my 2012 installation or my 2012? I installed 2012 fresh, I did not have an option to upgrade 2010 (nor would I have taken; because at the time I had not had a chance to verify the stability of 2012 with out code). Both are installed on my PC.

I did not expect reinstalling to do anything as I had run a repair already (as stated above) and given how much MS leaves behind after an uninstall I saw little difference in the two options. I did however, uninstal, run CCleaner against my registry, and restart my computer before reinstalling per your post. The situation is the same. All solutions work in 2010 but some do not in 2012 (but no one else using those solutions has the problem when they run 2012). It is always the same solutions that fail and I have deleted them and redownloaded them from our version control software many times with no change.

Answer 5

Hi Nicholas,

Glad to receive your reply.

Do you mean that the same app worked well in other team members’ machines with VS2012 IDE?

To make sure that it is not the VS IDE issue, you could locate to the IDE folder then run these commands:

 

Devenv.exe /SafeMode: Launches the IDE in safe mode loading minimal windows.

Devenv.exe /ResetSettings: Restores the IDE's default settings, optionally resets to the specified VSSettings file.

Devenv.exe /ResetAddin: Removes commands and command UI associated with the specified Add-in.

Devenv.exe /ResetSkipPkgs: Clears all SkipLoading tags added to VSPackages.

Please close other processes in your machine, like the firewall, the anti-virus software and other third party tool, please make sure that your task manager is free.

Please install the VS2012 Update2.

And then run this app again.

Actually I’m not very sure that whether it is related to the VS install, I have met the similar issue before, it has an issue when installing VS2010 and VS2012 in the same machine. Of course, it supports the two different versions (VS2010 and VS2012) in one machine in default.

You could check whether it is related to .NET Framework Setup.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astebner/archive/2008/10/13/8999004.aspx

In addition, we know that it will update the app if we open it in VS2012 which was created in VS2010, so we would make sure that the app was updated successfully. As you said that the same app worked well in other team member’s machine with VS2012, you could copy other machine’s app (the same app)to your machine, if it worked well, so we could make sure that it is not the VS IDE issue. But it has the same issue, I’m afraid that it is your Environment issue.

If I have misunderstood anything, please make free feel to let me know.

Sincerely,

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Jack Zhai [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Develop and promote your apps in Windows Store
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 6

Thank you for your reply Jack.

First, to answer your question. When the project that I am unable to open is opened by my coworkers (we share code and solutions via a version control system) on their PCs using 2012 with update 2, they do not encounter any problems.

I am already running update 2. When we load the 2012 solutions we do not update them, we continue to use the 2010 compiler.

When you said App what do you mean? Are you referring to the software we are writing? I already do use the exact same code that my coworkers do. That is what a version control system is for.

I am able to open the problem solution in safe mode. I was no aware of the resetaddin parameter, I will try your suggestions when I have time today.

Thanks again for your help.

Answer 7

Hi Nicholas,

I am able to open the problem solution in safe mode. I was no aware of the resetaddin parameter, I will try your suggestions when I have time today.

I look forward to hearing from you. But if you could open it in safe mode, I’m afraid that it will be related to your Environment.

Best Regards,

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Jack Zhai [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Develop and promote your apps in Windows Store
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 8

Hi Nicholas,

I am writing to check the status of the issue on your side. 

What about this problem now?

Would you mind letting us know the latest information about this issue?

Best Regards,

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Jack Zhai [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Develop and promote your apps in Windows Store
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.