Visual Studio's Toolbox is empty

Question

I am using visual studio 2015. I have my toolbox open and I checked on Show All. I unchecked this an now my entire toolbox is empty except for the General Tab (which there is nothing in). I tried resetting the toolbox but that did not fix the problem. Has anyone encountered this before? If so, what was the fix? Thanks.

What type of file do you have open in the IDE? In code files it is empty, but Razor/WebForms should have items in the toolbox. — Sam, Dec 29 '15 at 17:41
It might be because the IDE has somehow determined you are not a Seattle Seahawks fan. This happens to me sometimes, too; if you simply try a second or third time to open the Toolbox, it will eventually acquiesce (provided, as Sam says, an appropriate file is open). BTW, say hi to Rod for me. — B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven, Dec 29 '15 at 17:57
This issue still affects later versions of Visual Studio (e.g. VS2019), see how to fix this in my answer below. — sɐunıɔןɐqɐp, Apr 28 '21 at 10:12

score 31 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 17 '23 at 08:51

31

Try right clicking in the toolbox and select 'show all'.

You can also start /reset

From your description, it seems that your issue might be related with IDE. I suggest you to try to execute the following commands:

Devenv.exe /SafeMode

Devenv.exe /ResetSettings

edited Mar 17 '23 at 08:51

Lundin

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answered Jan 15 '18 at 18:40

Abdellatif Med

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This is a working solution. For those who don't know the path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE" first you must CD to such director through CMD. then execute Type "Devenv.exe /ResetSettings" – Reagan Mar 21 '22 at 17:24

score 19 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 17 '23 at 08:55

19

I have that problem still after using repair in VisualStudio Installer. But I found a solution here: https://thinkaboutit.be/2012/10/my-toolbox-is-empty/

The localization off that files can be in different places, for VS 2022 I found some hidden files here: C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\17.0_dbab3d69

Deleting those files and restarting VS solved the problem.

edited Mar 17 '23 at 08:55

Lundin

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answered May 27 '22 at 12:34

Borys

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This worked for me, when reset toolbox did nothing. – MiB_Coder Jul 20 '22 at 17:50
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After trying all other existing solutions, this was the only one working in VS2022. – doterik Aug 31 '22 at 12:29
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Link only anwser: The gist is to close VS, delete the hidden "toolbox.*" items from "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\17.0_cd024688" (adjust version) and restart VS. May need to do Reset Toolbox afterwards. – Jens Sep 09 '22 at 09:16
I had to login to upvote this! – Hai Nguyen Jul 14 '23 at 09:30

score 13 · Answer 3 · answered May 14 '22 at 18:12

I just had the same thing happen to me in Visual Studio 2022 with a .NET 6 WinForms application. After updating VS 2022 to version 17.2.0, my Toolbox entries were blank when I tried to use them to drag and drop into the designer of a project I had just recently created in version 17.1.x.

I ended up fixing this by:

Right-click the Toolbox
Select Choose Items from the resulting context menu
Press the Reset button in the resulting Choose Toolbox Items dialog
Press the OK button when the reset process completed.

I had the same situation. This solution worked for me. Thanks. — Faraz Azhar, Jul 15 '22 at 08:39

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 18 '17 at 15:49

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I had the same problem. I have tried with right click on the design windows and add " Toolbox" (SSIS Toolbox in my case). This worked for me.

answered Aug 18 '17 at 15:49

Darius

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Zulu Dev · Answer 5 · 2021-01-31T22:13:02.860

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In the case of an SSIS toolbox not appearing. On the top ribbon menu click on View -> Other Windows -> SSIS Toolbox, this will show the toolbox with SSIS related items.

SSIS Menu image

edited Jan 31 '21 at 22:13

answered Jan 29 '21 at 21:29

Zulu Dev

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Please explain your answer more thoroughly. – M-Chen-3 Jan 29 '21 at 23:51

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered May 16 '22 at 14:50

I had a similar problem(Visual Studio 2022). None of the solutions solved my problem. Eventually my problem was solved by repairing the visual studio.

Go to Start >> All Programs >> “Visual Studio 2022” >> “Visual Studio Installer”. Now, click Visual Studio Installer. After clicking repair options progress options open. The repair will take some minutes to complete.

score 1 · Answer 7 · edited Apr 28 '21 at 10:19

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I don't know why this bug exists, but I fixed mine using the steps below:

Right click on toolbox -> Show All -> Check.
Wait it to load the controls, then click OK
Rigth click on Toolbox and select -> Show All -> Uncheck

edited Apr 28 '21 at 10:19

sɐunıɔןɐqɐp

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answered Dec 29 '19 at 02:07

JayLord Abueva

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score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 21 '20 at 06:41

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I encountered the same problem and solved it by:

closing the toggled/opened toolbox
opening any windows form [designer]
re-opening the toolbox

toolbox components will be reloaded again

answered Jul 21 '20 at 06:41

Edsel Ayala

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score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Sep 29 '21 at 11:05

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This is an old question but I could fix it easily by just stopping the program running.

If you run your app to test it the toolbox will be empty until you stop the debugger!

answered Sep 29 '21 at 11:05

Slamit

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score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 29 '19 at 21:51

In my case, I had opened with ctrl+alt+x. I noticed in the newer versions of VS, there is some confused crossover of toolboxes. In my case, it opened the SSRS toolbox, which was not applicable to my SSIS file.

Closed that, right-clicked in design area, and chose SSIS Toolbox. This opened a toolbox called "SSIS Toolbox" rather than just "Toolbox". All fixed.

sɐunıɔןɐqɐp · Answer 11 · 2021-04-28T10:20:11.563

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In Visual Studio 2019 you can just right click the dark area inside the toolbox and select "Reset Toolbox".

This will remove custom-added controls or any other auto-detected control, and you will be left only with the standard controls.

The issue should be fixed without completely reseting Visual Studio's settings.

edited Apr 28 '21 at 10:20

answered Apr 28 '21 at 10:14

sɐunıɔןɐqɐp

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score -1 · Answer 12 · answered Oct 21 '22 at 03:53

-1

I just right-clicked on toolbox area and choose "show all" :) Now it works

answered Oct 21 '22 at 03:53

Maciej Binkowski

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Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Oct 24 '22 at 09:47
This is the same answer as https://stackoverflow.com/a/48268926/584518 posted in 2018, just worse. – Lundin Mar 17 '23 at 08:57

score -1 · Answer 13 · answered Feb 02 '23 at 10:18

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Just restart visual studio and it will pop right back

answered Feb 02 '23 at 10:18

J.A Programmer

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Visual Studio's Toolbox is empty

13 Answers13

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