Datatips (mouse hover over variables in debug mode) not working in Visual Studio 2012 / Win 7 64bit

Question

When I hover my mouse over a variable when debugging a C# app in Visual Studio nothing popups. I expect to see the value of the variable (aka datatips). I'm running Visual Studio 2012 Ultimate (trial edition) on Windows 7 64bit. Does anyone know what may prevent them from showing?

Things I've tried to no avail: - Reinstall VS - Search for an enable/disable setting but there doesn't seem to be one

I can see the datatips correctly with the same C# project on Windows 8/64bit with the same version of Visual Studio.

Solution 1

THis helped me: you need to open in VS Tools | Options | Debugger | General and enable the flag [Use Managed Compatibility Mode].

Solution 2

Before running the application check you are running it in Debug mode. If set to Release mode change it to Debug and then run. The debugger will then provide the data-tips.

Solution 3

I have found this solutions:

• reinstall Visual Studio as adivced here, but you have already tried it

• Open your VS->Tools->Import and Export Settings Wizard->Reset all settings->No, just reset settings, overwriting my current settings-> Choose a Default Collection of Settings from MSDN Forum: Debugging - hover watch has stopped working

Updated:

• maybe you have Release build configuration

• set Code Optimization property to Disabled under Project property windows

as adviced in similiar question on SO

Solution 4

I had this problem so I deleted all the *.suo and *.user files I could find in the solution directory and that seemed to fix it.

Solution 5

I had this same problem. My project had somehow gone into Release mode, so I changed it back to Debug mode via Build|Configuration Manager and it was working again, the datatips reappeared.

View more solutions

Comments

[pilcrowpipe]

I tried the reset option but to no avail, thanks though. In VS2012 I couldn't find "Default Collection of Settings" in the list so I reset VC.settings, Visual C# Settings and General Development settings and then restarted VS.

[MikroDel]

@pilcrowpipe - I have found also something similiar, but relating to Java and Eclipse stackoverflow.com/questions/5033717/…

[MikroDel]

@pilcrowpipe - some sources advice to update VS etc. and also there are a Thread about it on Intel. You are not alone with your problem =) And you are not the only one without any solution for it

[RJ Lohan]

Resetting settings and restarting VS2013 solved this one for me. No idea how it got in this weird state, but yay!

[Steven Spyrka]

After reading your post i was i like "OMG". You were right, it was Release-Mode, thanks!

[Chucky]

I've reset settings and have upgraded to Visual Studio 2015, Update 1 recently, but still nothing. I'm struggling to remember if I ever had data tips or if I imagined them.

[Vladislav Bolshakov]

This helped me too, in ASP.NET Core RC1 (for reference)

[Patrick]

This kills Edit-and-Continue

[RoG]

This flag was not present in my installation of VS 2010.

[user1702369]

Thanks a million, my .Net suddenly came unstable, could not debug. Designer didnt load, it was a mess. And since I deleted all .user files, it came back to live. 5 Hours waisted. Thanks once again

[Leo Gurdian]

VS2017, VSTO, using System.ValueTuple has disabled tooltip.. this fixed it

[zwcloud]

Resetting settings in VS2017 solved this problem for me.

[Eric]

Sometimes it's the easy/dumb things. Thanks for saving me hours of re-installing and chasing ghosts.

[janv8000]

Simply uninstall the current version and reinstall VS :| One does not simply uninstall the current version and reinstall VS

[Jorge Luque]

I'm on VS 2019 (v16.6 from May 19, 2020) and it doesnt work for me. I tried the solutions: "Use Managed Compatibility Mode", selecting "Debug" mode, resetting all settings, restarting VS, restarting my PC, reinstalling VS, downgrading to VS 16.4, deleting the .vs folder, and more things. The tool tips show up normally when not debugging.

[Ksice]

@JorgeLuque, Have you found the solution? It happened also to me after I reinstalled resharper and updated VS... Can't find a solution

[BigJoeNH]

Also remember to reset your breakpoints as you will lose them.

[RdPC]

Hi, in case anyone has the same problem, in my case I had a laptop with 120% scaling and an external monitor with 100%, when I set both to 120% scaling the vs started displaying Datatips, so my guess is theres a problem when the scaling is different

[Mats Magnem]

Cool, I will check if that's something I can work with. I originally prefer all 100% and no scaling. I still have the issue btw. Multiple updates to most drivers and VS since then, but no solution.

[Cees]

I did this and it was not working for me. maybe others have some luck.

[Cees]

i did this and it did not work for me.