This has been the case unfortunatly for the past couple of months. I can't install new or update packages from Tools ==> Extensions and Updates I tried everything, yet I am unable to find the reason.
I've tried :
Access NuGet and download packages from "Package Manager Console" Install-Package = SUCCESS
Access repositories using Web browsers, Visual studion internal browser = SUCCESS
Same window in Visual Studio 2010 = SUCCESS
Visual Studio 2012 - Doesn't work
Visual Studio 2010 - Works!
As it turns out for some reason -possibly due to an RC-, My registry settings were pointing to a different url that was getting redirected.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0_Config\ExtensionManager\Repositories
AND I changed
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0_Config\ExtensionManager\Repositories{0f45e408-7995-4375-9485-86b8db553dc9}(Default)
to
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/Services/v2011/Extension.svc
instead of
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=251029
I changed
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0_Config\ExtensionManager\Repositories{aeb9cb40-d8e6-4615-b52c-27e307f8506c}(Default)
to
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Services/v2011/sample.svc
instead of
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=251031
Remove the local cache of extensions and download them all again.
The easiest thing to do is to rename
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\Visual Studio version\Extensions\
to
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\Visual Studio version\Extensions.old\
and run visual studio, it will update recreate the folder.
WeSam Abdallah's hint worked perfectly for me! Just try to open the link provided in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0_Config\ExtensionManager\Repositories{0f45e408-7995-4375-9485-86b8db553dc9}(Default) in your browser and see what it is changed to automatically. For Visual Studio 2013 I had to change the URL from https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=309922 to https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/services/dev12/extension.svc
This answer is an update for Visual Studio 2015.
I tried the registry hack as well as renaming the Extensions folder, and neither solution worked.
However, in my case, the issue seems to have been because I'm behind a proxy at work. This worked for me:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/32650801/2452084
An interesting things is happening and I was hoping someone would be able to help me with it.
Visual Studio 2012 with Web Essentials installed was working fine until the latest update (the one where they removed less, coffeescript, etc.)
However since the update, I am having problems. This only happens when I open a project that has a file - which web essentials would act upon - already open.
If I close all of the tabs with cshtml/less/css files before I close a project. Then the next time I open that project, I am fine. I can even open those files, and web essentials kicks in with all of its extra features. But if even one of those files are open when the project was saved, and therefore opened automatically when the project is loaded, then the entire visual studio crashes.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you
Found the issue after days and days of searching (only minutes after posting this question :))
The latest version of Web Essentials requires ASP.NET and Web Tools 2012.2
I had heard a lot about these Tools 2012.2 but I thought that they were an extension - maybe the "Microsoft Web Development Tools" installed automatically with visual studio or something that would get upgraded automatically with all of the auto updating software running on my machine.
So I tried updating all of the extensions and refreshing and refreshing and searching for updates - to no avail.
I even downloaded and installed VS2012 Update 2 CTP4 thinking that that must be this elusive update that everyone is talking about.
Well as I'm sure you guessed, its actually none of the above.
The link is http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=282650
It is listed on the home page of web essentials but not on the page that pops up when you run the update.
I hope this link helps someone.
I am experiencing something weird at the moment. After I installed Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 (CTP), I can no longer open xaml pages properly in Blend designer view.
Looks like everything from other namespaces just cannot be found (see screenshot below)...
Please also note that the whole solution compiles ok if I close up all the xaml pages, and runs well too. But as soon as I open any of the xaml pages, it will throw me those errors...
UPDATE 13 MAY 2013
Just an update, a couple of days ago (after I installed the VS Update 2) the same error came back again. What I did to fix this was I had to change my build name from something else to 'Release' (or 'Debug') and did a 'Clean' and 'Build'.
Edited answer:
Updating to Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 should fix the issue: http://microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=38188
Check that the platform configurations for all projects linked together in the solution match ("Any CPU" or "x86"). For more info, see:
http://blogs.interknowlogy.com/2013/04/05/blend-for-visual-studio-2012-platform-errors/
This also seems to be a problem with the RTW version of VS2012 Update 2. I experienced this with a solution containing WP8 and Win8 Metro projects.
I have VS2012 Express Web installed on my machine and can create all different kinds of Projects with exception of MVC3/MVC4 apps. When I click OK on the New Project dialog I get the Select A Template dialog. I notice that the Create a Unit Test Project checkbox is Disabled. Selecting any of the choices (such as Internet Application) gives me this same error: The system cannot find the file specified (Exception from HRESULT 0x80070002).
I have uninstalled and deleted the C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\VWDExpress\ProjectTemplatesCache and ItemsTemplateChache - and after removal deleted the entire VWDExpress directory so the fresh install would recreate all the templates. I've tried both the web-installer as well as the .iso installer. Has anyone seen this problem or have any idea why I can't create MVC3/MVC4 projects?
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I have posted to the MSDN Newgroup and not had any luck there.
regards,
Bill
I had the same problem with a full installation of Visual Studio 2012. Uninstalling Visual Studio and everything it came with (SQL Server localDB, Silverlight SDKs etc), restarting, then reinstalling Visual Studio made it work.
Prior to re-installing, I ran ProcessMonitor during an attempt to create an MVC4 app and it kept trying to find an "extension.vsixmanifest" file but couldn't. I'm not sure which one, since I didn't try reinstalling all my extensions; maybe that will help.
I opened my vs2010 solution with vs2012 but it didn't make any conversion as from 2008 to 2010 was happening. So my solution still remains the same as 10 label on it. when I make a new solution of course it has 11 label on it. I haven't got any problem running like that but I am curious. Is there any difference? if yes, how to convert into vs2012 solution?
I managed to 'convert' the solution file to change the line containing '# Visual Studio 2010' to '# Visual Studio 2012' in the .SLN file.
Manual editing of the solution file is not necessary, or recommended. Simply open the VS2010 solution in VS2012, left-click the solution (at the very top of the Solution Explorer), then use File | Save As to overwrite the original file. This will effectively convert the VS2010 solution file to a VS2012 solution file.
There are some exceptions, but mostly you'll be able to open the same project and solution files files in both VS2012 and VS2010 SP1.
VS2012 may convert projects when you first open them, but the changes are (except noted in the document linked) backward compatible with VS2010 (ie using conditionals where needed to only apply to either version when loaded) Most project types will be left entirely untouched though.
It is about Visual Studio 2012 Compatibility
If you created your assets in Visual Studio 2010 with Service Pack 1 (SP1), many of them will load and run in Visual Studio 2012 without any further action on your part.
Many assets will also open again in Visual Studio 2010 with SP1 without any issues, even after you open those assets in Visual Studio 2012
For C++ projects it makes a difference, as the 2012 compiler (VC11) will only be used on projects that are explicitly 2012, not on 2010 projects opened in VS 2012. Some C++11 improvements are available with the VC11 compiler but not with VC10 (see this SO Answer for a summary), including:
Range based for-loops
New standard library headers (atomic, mutex, thread,...)
Smaller standard library container sizes
(And more to follow when the Nov 2012 CTP is delivered to VS 2012)
In order to convert from VS 2010 project to VS2012 there is no need to manually edit the solution file or 'Save As' over the existing project. Instead:
If you decline the update when first prompted, you can update the project later by opening the Project menu and choosing Update VC++ projects... [at the top of the menu options]
From MSDN's "How to: Upgrade Visual C++ Projects to Visual Studio 2012"
(This page was linked from #Joachim's MSDN link, but I wanted to have the answer here on SO since a number of other answers suggested manual workarounds instead of this VS 2012 feature)
In my case, I had some Visual Source Safe stuff (my project was created with Visual Studio 2003/2005, yes, very old!)
Once I manually removed the VSS stuff, the conversion succeeded.
PS: I know it's about VS2010, but maybe this helps others.
You can convert a project from VS2010 to VS2012 by doing the following:
Add the 2010 project to your VS2012 solution by right-click on your solution in the Solution Explorer and Select Add --> Existing Project...
The project will appear in the solution and will have (Visual Studio 2010) appended to its name.
Right-click on the added project and select Properties.
In the Configuration Properties --> General pane, change the setting in Platform Toolset field to Visual Studio 2012 (v110)
Repeat for each configuration type, e.g. Release and Debug.
I came across this question while googling for a solution to a specific problem: MSBuild was failing to execute the Publish target against a VS2012 solution that had started life in VS2010 when called from the command line (specifically through TeamCity):
error MSB4019: The imported project "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\Windows Azure Tools\2.3\Microsoft.WindowsAzure.targets" was not found. Confirm that the path in the <Import> declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk.
MSBuild was looking for the Azure SDK 2.3 targets in the VS10 location (C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\Windows Azure Tools\2.3\Microsoft.WindowsAzure.targets). The cause is explained by Sayed Ibrahim Hashimi in a blog post and, as I understood it, boils down to some decisions they made while enabling cross-version compatibility for solution files. The solution was simple: add the VisualStudioVersion property to the MSBuild invocation, something like this:
msbuild.exe MyAwesomeWeb.sln /p:VisualStudioVersion=11.0
Practically speaking, this overrides the following in each csproj file:
<VisualStudioVersion Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == ''">10.0</VisualStudioVersion>
Presumably you could get the same result by editing all of these by hand to replace 10.0 with 11.0 but that might break backwards-compatibility -- I haven't tried it. I also haven't tried an update to VS2013 to see if the problem persists.
So to wrap this up by answering the question: yes, there are some differences before you "convert" (using any of the methods offered by other answerers) and some differences remain afterwards.
This is slightly different, but along the same lines so in case it helps anyone:
I was loading a project where it looked like it was loading and then kept showing all projects as unavailable. No errors were on the migration report. I tried reloading the solution and projects many times, using various methods including suggestions here.
Finally I found a "Resolve Errors" option when right clicking on the solution in the Solution Explorer. VS went through a load process again and it worked; no problems.
I don't know what it did differently that time, but apparently it made a difference.
it's to simple just edit the .sol file
change the version to 11
like this
Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 12.00
Visual Studio 2012