Visual Studio 2010 toolbox empty when run in XPSP3 Compatibility Mode in Win 7?

Question

I have found that the only way to get a non-empty toolbox in the Visual Studio 2010 designer in Win 7 is to not run the IDE in XPSP3 Compatibility Mode.

Why is this the case?

Answer 1

This is a very strange sort of question. I cannot comprehend the motives that lay behind either asking it or trying the scenario that led to the observation in the first place. What were you doing running VS 2010 in XP compatibility mode? It supports Windows 7 just fine, I run it every day.

Obviously when you start applying compatibility mode patches and shims (which is what that checkbox does), things are liable to break. This should really come as no surprise to you. Compatibility mode is intended only for applications that do not work any other way. Because you can't break something that is already broken, the only possibility is improvement. VS 2010 obviously breaks this rule, since we both know it works fine on Windows 7 out-of-the-box.

As for a specific reason why the toolbox breaks, I don't know. I don't really care. But if you do, you're a programmer and you have a copy of Visual Studio, so attach the debugger and figure it out for yourself. If nothing else, it will be a good exercise in debugging third-party code, a skill that occasionally even has practical uses.