Visual Studio 2008 Xaml Editor not working / disappeared

Question

When I start up VS 2008 to work on a WPF / Silverlight App and open a XAML or XML file the XAML / XML editor is no longer working. The designer does not show up and intellisense is unavailable. It basically looks like a text file has been opened.

Solution 1

Try running the following command.

"%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\ide\devenv" /resetSkipPkgs

If that doesn't work try repairing the Visual Studio Install

• Start -> Control Panel
• Add Remove Programs
• Select VS
• Choose repair

Solution 2

The designer for XAML is awful. Do yourself a favour and set your XAML files to open in the code viewer instead; they'll load quicker and you won't have to deal with the designer's flakiness.

However, to fix the intellisense, just re-register TextMgrP.dll using regsvr32 as indicated here.

Solution 3

I've seen this problem before, running this command should fix it :

Devenv.exe /ResetSkipPkgs

Comments

[Jeff Yates]

This is overkill. The solution is just to re-register the TextMgrP.dll.

[Andy]

I whole-heartedly agree. I just used the designer in my answer, based on the wording in the original question.

[JaredPar]

@Jeff, not necessarily. There are numerous problems that can cause this behavior in VS. This solution is the one most likely to fix the problem. Re-registering that DLL will only fix one very specific problem. I've found the package reload issue to be much more common than a non-registered DLL.

[Jeff Yates]

@Jared: The designer rarely works, regardless of the package loading and the broken intellisense is a known issue fixed by re-registering the TextMgrP.dll. Trying this first and then attempting your other suggested options would be prudent as it is quick, and if it works, it saves a lot of time.

[Amitd]

Installing VS 2008 SP1 will help..it fixed similar problems which i had encountered. microsoft.com/downloads/…