Visual Studio 2012 won't start

Question

I installed VS2012 Premium from our MSDN subscription and it was working fine the first couple of days but then I installed a few extensions I can't now start VS2012 and it gives the error:

Faulting application name: devenv.exe, version: 11.0.50727.1, time stamp: 0x5011ecaa
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.17725, time stamp: 0x4ec49b8f
Exception code: 0xc0000374
Fault offset: 0x000ce6c3
Faulting process id: 0xee8
Faulting application start time: 0x01cd89bb777fc1dd
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ntdll.dll

I'm running it on Windows 7 64 bit.

I've tried to repair, uninstall and install again and nothing. I tried to restore to a previous restore system point but nothing.

The extensions I installed I can remember:

VS10x Code Map
VSCommands
Visual SVN
Nuget manager

(all the above my colleagues have it too and it works fine for them) and:

Web Essentials
Visual Studio Color Theme Editor
SlowCheetah
Mobile Ready HTML5

Questions are:

Anyone else has had this problem?
Is there a way I can uninstall extensions from a command line or software? (I removed the extensions folder but that doesn't do anything)
Can I repair the "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ntdll.dll"? Is it really a problem with this dll?

I haven't been able to find any similar issue in other versions and because VS2012 is new doesn't seem to be much information either.

This post gives a solution: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vssetup/thread/d848776a-b00f-4311-ab09-3a8777462968 but for me it gives me another error now:Faulting module path: C:\Windows\syswow64\KERNELBASE.dll — David Aleu, Sep 03 '12 at 11:09
I had this problem caused by the Gemini Visual Studio 2012 Connector. Everything is fine until I try and open the Gemini window, whereupon VS crashes. It couldn't start because I had that window pinned open. jimbo elrod's answer below worked for me. — john_cat, Jun 21 '13 at 09:50

score 54 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 05 '13 at 22:55

54

It is working now!. This is what I did:

Following the suggestion here:

Removed the key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]. VS2012 loading but then crashing before I could do anything else (error in C:\Windows\syswow64\KERNELBASE.dll)
Then I removed:
- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0]
- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0_Config] and started again and is working fine.

I obviously lost all my settings but no big deal as I can now do some work! :)

edited Jan 05 '13 at 22:55

devOp

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answered Sep 03 '12 at 11:24

David Aleu

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I started having VS2012 crash after SP1 was applied and I uninstalled Telerik's JustCode. This solution worked for me. – Bahri Gungor Jan 14 '13 at 18:34
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Mine was locking up on the VS2012 splash screen and not getting any further. Step 2 is what worked for me. Thanks! – NovaJoe Oct 03 '13 at 17:40
I second @NovaJoe's comment verbatim. – Paul Smith Mar 29 '14 at 22:52
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Works! for 2013 as well! – WreithKassan Aug 26 '14 at 13:22
i didn't find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers !! – AHmedRef Nov 11 '14 at 19:01
You might not have VS2012 then! – David Aleu Nov 17 '14 at 15:43
I second @WreithKassan. Worked in VS2013. Was about to reinstall VS – Jason Turan Mar 04 '15 at 23:59
Works well, just re-init, but keep preferences and mapping with tfs, perfect ! THX :) – Ema.H Apr 15 '15 at 08:37
You saved my ass, do you have a Bitcoin wallet to give you a tip? – Gubatron Apr 18 '15 at 14:34
Send me a virtual box of dark chocolate biscuits :) – David Aleu Apr 25 '15 at 22:26

score 21 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 05 '13 at 22:51

21

Running devenv.exe with the /SafeMode argument would probably have also fixed it.

edited Jan 05 '13 at 22:51

devOp

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answered Jan 05 '13 at 22:27

JTallsmith

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This should really be the approved answer. Try it before blowing away parts of the registry. It works at least some of the time and you won't lose your settings. – Ivan Karajas Jun 02 '15 at 00:46

score 7 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 30 '12 at 17:26

7

I opened a different .sln and then went back to my faulting project and it loaded! Maybe something with a faulty close-down of the project

edited Nov 30 '12 at 17:26

Mukul Goel

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answered Nov 30 '12 at 17:01

jimbo elrod

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score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 06 '13 at 12:38

Removing all VS settings is a bit harsh unless all visual studio instances crash immediately.

What probably happens when you encounter this is that Visual Studio opens the designer window that caused it to crash in the first place... this is often an extension, but it might also just be a bug in VS. For example: I sometimes experience this when working with LINQ-TO-SQL and have the database-schema designer open.

The easiest resolution is to simply remove the SUO file with the solution settings, and open the SLN. You can then do whatever you want, except go to the file with the issue- once you know what that file is, you can fix it (f.ex. in the case of a DBML by simply removing it and regenerating it)

I had this problem in VS 2015; it would crash on startup whether I launched as an administrator or not. I ended up double-clicking a different solution file than the one I last used before VS crashed, and VS opened up fine. — John Craft, Oct 16 '15 at 20:03

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 06 '13 at 22:55

Just copy all dte*.olb files, from C:\Program Files (X86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSEnv to C:\Program Files X86\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE.

From https://mycodepad.wordpress.com/2013/12/07/visual-studio-2012-4-run-as-administrator-the-application-cannot-start-error/

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 04 '14 at 00:26

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Simply running as Administrator seemed to be enough to get it running for me, at least temporarily.

answered Jun 04 '14 at 00:26

ryanjhilton

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firing up VS 2012 as admin also helped me but before that I did an **"sfc /scannow"** from the command prompt. (and it did found some defects and corrected those) – gericooper Jun 19 '14 at 11:04

score 0 · Answer 7 · edited Oct 03 '13 at 15:20

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I had a similar ntdll.dll issue ... C++ updating SQL Server ...

I fixed it by using the SQL Server OBDC connection rather than the SQL Server Native Client 11.0

We're trying to see why as it is working for some updates and not others ... but it works all the time for reading.

edited Oct 03 '13 at 15:20

Kuba hasn't forgotten Monica

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answered Oct 03 '13 at 15:00

user2843247

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score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 31 '14 at 09:09

All the above solutions didn't work for me, but this one work.

Copy dte*.olb from C:\Program Files (X86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSEnv to C:\Program Files X86\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE.

http://www.clausconrad.com/blog/the-application-cannot-start-running-visual-studio-as-administrator

score 0 · Answer 9 · edited Jun 12 '14 at 07:23

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First launch devenv.exe with the /SafeMode option, then Uncheck the Allow macros to run from "Enviroment->Add-in/Macros Security" and test!

edited Jun 12 '14 at 07:23

László Papp

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answered Jun 12 '14 at 07:04

JemoGlemo

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score 0 · Answer 10 · answered May 09 '16 at 10:05

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The problem is due to path variable. setting path variable in Environmental variables to below 2048 characters worked for me.

answered May 09 '16 at 10:05

Kishor Jha

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Visual Studio 2012 won't start

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