After installing the ASP.NET and Web Tools 2015 (RC1 update 1) I get the following error within ASP.NET MVC 4 projects when opening *.cshtml files:
Object reference not set to instance of an object
I get the same error message even if I start a new ASP.NET MVC 4 project and try to open a *.cshtml file there.
I'm using Visual Studio 2015
Maybe this helps:
Delete the contents from the following folders:
C:\Users\%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio
C:\Users\%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VSCommon
Sometimes, you need to go to:
[x64] C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE
[x86] C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE
and run devenv /resetuserdata.
Expect, that all of your user settings such as Visual Studio layout, linked Microsoft account or start page might disappear.
Delete %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\ComponentModelCache and restart Visual Studio.
Alternatively, use the Clear MEF Component Cache extension.
For me,
I ended the process in Windows Task Manager: VsHub.exe.
Restarted Visual Studio.
After that, everything works like a charm again!
I solved it doing
run devenv /resetuserdata
in this path:
[x64] C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE
I assume that in x86 it works in this path:
[x86] C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE
It's recommended to try any or all of the following:
Restart Visual Studio
Try Running As Administrator (right-click Visual Studio and choose "Run As Administrator")
Check for any updates for Visual Studio (download and install them if any are available)
Try opening a different solution / project
If problems persist, you might try the following options:
Restart your local machine
Attempt to reset Visual Studio to System Defaults (this can be done from the options within Visual Studio)
Attempt to repair your Visual Studio installation
In the hopes it might narrow things down/help someone, I did an investigatory approach. For me, I initially moved the folder at C:\Users\{user}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio to My Documents and allowed Visual Studio to re-create it by re-launching it. This removed the errors. So I moved everything back, one-by-one, and restarted Visual Studio each time until I discovered the culprits. These folders were fine to move back in:
1033 (overwrote the auto-generated copy with old)
Designer (was in my old copy, not initially re-created when I re-launched VS, copied it back in)
Extensions (overwrote the auto-generated copy with old)
ImageLibrary (overwrote the auto-generated copy with old)
Notifications (overwrote the auto-generated copy with old)
STemplate (was in my old copy, not initially re-created when I re-launched VS, copied it back in)
VTC (was in my old copy, not initially re-created when I re-launched VS, copied it back in)
These files were fine to move back in/overwrite the auto-generated ones:
ApplicationPrivateSettings (was in my old copy, not initially re-created when I re-launched VS)
ApplicationPrivateSettings.lock (overwrote the auto-generated copy with old)
vspdmc.lock (overwrote the auto-generated copy with old)
These files were fine to move back in. Each was in my old copy, and not initially re-created when I re-launched VS:
.NETFramework,Version=v4.0,Set=Framework,Hash=C958D412.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.0,Set=RecentAssemblies,Hash=0.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5,Set=Extensions,Hash=75EAE334.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5,Set=Extensions,Hash=497525A2.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5,Set=Framework,Hash=5AE9A175.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5.2,Set=Extensions,Hash=24CEEB0D.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5.2,Set=Extensions,Hash=72AE305.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5.2,Set=Extensions,Hash=ADF899D7.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5.2,Set=Framework,Hash=D8E943A2.dat
These caused problems - delete these files and re-launch VS to allow it to re-create them:
ComponentModelCache - When I overwrote this folder's contents with my old ones (4 files: MS.VS.Default.cache, .catalogs, .err, .external), this gave me all of the errors I had gotten before about not being able to load packages when loading my project, and the "object reference not set to an instance of an object" error when trying to close VS.
devenv.exe.config - same as ComponentModelCache
.NETFramework,Version=v4.0,Set=Extensions,Hash=6D09DECC.dat - causes error output from the JavaScript Language Service, complaining of missing js files
.NETFramework,Version=v4.0,Set=Extensions,Hash=9951BC03.dat - causes error output from the JavaScript Language Service, complaining of missing js files
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5.2,Set=RecentAssemblies,Hash=0.dat - causes error output from the JavaScript Language Service, complaining of missing js files
These are the errors from those last .NETFramework files (which I do not get if I do not add them back in):
01:10:11.7550: Referenced file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\JavaScript\References\libhelp.js' not found.
01:10:11.7550: Referenced file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\JavaScript\References\sitetypesWeb.js' not found.
01:10:11.7550: Referenced file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\JavaScript\References\domWeb.js' not found.
01:10:11.7550: Referenced file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\JavaScript\References\underscorefilter.js' not found.
01:10:11.7550: Referenced file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\JavaScript\References\showPlainComments.js' not found.
I might just need to re-install/repair the JavaScript Language Service plug-in, so it might be un-related. But definitely devenv.exe.config and ComponentModelCache need to go to correct the "object reference not set to an instance of an object" error.
For me, ASP.NET 5 is not yet required, I removed update, and then reinstalled ASP.NET 4.5. It's a bit tricky:
Removed from control panel "Microsoft ASP.NET 5 RC1 Update1". After that, you will no longer open ASP.NET MVC projects
Then I changed the installation of "Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2015", clicked "Modify", and selected "Microsoft Web Developer Tools"
No longer follow the notification of update in Visual Studio 2015!!!
After trying the top answer, I found that you must also restart the computer. The error may be part of a git issue as well where restarting your computer will reset.
I was getting an exception every time I tried to create a "new" project.
My solution was:
Go menu Tools → Extensions and Updates
Check the "Updates" link... There was an update to Microsoft ASP.NET and Web Tools. Install it.
That fixed it for me.
In my case (not necessarily be the solution for you, but it may be helpful for someone), the solution was:
Go menu Tools → Extensions and Updates
Select the Online tab from the right panel
Search for the words web tools, and then select Microsoft ASP.NET and Web Tools and install it.
In my case, this was missing from my computer because of a lot of repairing operations for Visual Studio.
I was getting similar error in VS2017 while trying to publish my solution to Azure.
This algorithm helped me to resolve it:
Close VS2017
Open C:\Users{your user name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\ folder
Rename 15.0_08edcd83 folder
Start VS
Publish works fine!
Note that this will remove your Visual Studio's recent files / projects from it's history and also linking to MS account.
This method is slightly different from the Top answer. Here you don't have to delete other folders except renaming abovementioned one.
I was getting this exception every time I created a "new" project.
My solution was:
Go menu Tools ? Extensions and Updates
Not check the "Updates" link...search "asp.net". There was an
update to Microsoft ASP.NET and Web Tools. Get it as
AspNetWebFrameworksTools2015_KB3137909.exe and install it.
That fixed it for me.
Unfortunately, I ran into another exception:
"Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation"
I disabled the FIPS setting Enabled DWORD value to zero.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\FipsAlgorithmPolicy]
Enabled=dword:00000000 And All fixed.
Goto windows+R and type %temp% and hit enter. delete the temp folder and files and then try opening the same
I have been fighting with this during the whole weekend. But it's pretty easy to do it. What I did was to click on repair rather than uninstall. After repairing, I clicked on restart directly. After that, everything is working perfectly.
You should try this, may be it can work also for you!!!
Restarting Visual Studio did it for me. On the next run, it displayed a "Scanning new and updated MEF components ..." and then it executed normally.
It seems to be related to Windows update somehow, although I don't have proof.
Delete bin and obj folders in all projects of that solution.
Seems like those folders were having old files generated by some older version of visual studio, which are not compatible with new version of visual studio.
The solution to the issue when i had this earlier today was that there was an additional
set of tags bolted on the end of my Web.config. Once removed the functionality returned.
Problem:
My VS 2015 was throwing up error after I installed SSDT. Whenever I clicked on Tools >> Extensions and Update it was throwing "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" error. When I tried to open a solution it threw some provider not set correctly.
Solution:
After many hours of research trying out all the solutions previously mentioned by others didn't solve my problem. Every time the error popup was pointing to check the ActivityLog.xml. But I was ignoring it. After hours of frustration I decided to read the error carefully and looked into ActivitLog.xml and found that it was looking for "Could not load file or assembly 'System.Collections.Immutable, Version=1.1.37.0". So I just started searching for this assembly and stumbled upon this link https://sergeytihon.com/2015/12/01/how-to-restore-viual-studio-2015-after-update-1-dependency-dance/
and followed the steps there, which fixed my issue.
Went into %LOCALAPPDATA%/Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\devenv.exe.config and searched for "System.Collections.Immutable" and change newVersion from 1.1.36.0 to 1.1.37.0
Final config should look like this
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="System.Collections.Immutable" publicKeyToken="b03f5f7f11d50a3a" culture="neutral"/>
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.27.0-1.1.65535.65535" newVersion="1.1.37.0"/>
</dependentAssembly>
I am using these steps to publish my ASP.NET MVC 4 application using Visual Studio 2010 on IIS 7.5 running on a 64-bit Windows 7 Professional machine.
When I click the Publish button on the wizard after entering the values, it reports a single error that reads:
Copying file Views\Shared\Error.cshtml
to obj\Debug\Package\PackageTmp\Views\Shared\Error.cshtml failed.
Could not find file 'Views\Shared\Error.cshtml'.
I looked into the target folder where the wizard dumps the necessary files that will be needed to deploy the application. It turns out that the folder had the Views folder which had only the _ViewStart.cshtml of the root Views folder, but no other View. My application has at least 20 views, perhaps more.
I realized that it was my fault. The local copy of my project had the file Error.cshtml in the Views\Shared folder. However, the TFS copy of the project file did not. Apparently, the file had been excluded from the project at some stage.
I excluded the file from my project locally and ran the build and it worked.
In my case the problem was that the file was in the solution but didn't actually exist on the local file system.
For me, this problem occurred when I moved a file (via explorer) from the shared folder to another folder.
I added the file in visual studio, but did not "delete" the file from the shared folder (as far as visual studio was concerned).
For some reason, visual studio did not put a little flag or warning sign to tell me the expected file was missing (even after a refresh), so I didn't notice (although trying to open the missing file revealed the problem).
The error message is clear, and self explanatory. I just couldn't understand it for some reason.
Recently I've upgraded from Visual Studio 2008 to Visual Studio 2010, however I'm having various problems when uploading my compiled web site to the live area. I'm doing exactly the same as I would have done with Visual Studio 2008, however, now I receive errors such as:
{filename}.aspx is not a pre-compiled file
masterpage.master does not exist
All these errors don't make sense. Has anyone encountered these problems before, and was a solution ever found?
Try run the Clean Solution command from the Build menu on your solution.
Try diagnosing by publishing to a brand new IIS location. Perhaps there are files from your VS2008 build that aren't being overwritten by your VS2010 build.
Are all the files present in the bin directory as you'd expect?
Is there an PrecompiledAppConfig.config file in the root?
You can run the Clean command by selecting Build -> Batch Build. You will see the options Build, Rebuild, and Clean in the dialog box.
The web site does not have to be created in IIS in order to use the Batch Build dialog.
Hope this helps,
Rick
you probably have not created an application or virtual directory on your server.
use IIS Manager to create it
I am working with Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio 2008 for the first time. I had a web site project that was done with Visual Web Developer Express, which I have converted to a solution containing a Web Application Project, setup for TFS source control, etc etc.
TFS was having issues checking in/uploading some of my referenced DDLs, specifically AjaxControlToolKit, saying things like /bin/AjaxControlToolKit.pdb couldn't be found. I removed the reference, deleted everything it had in /bin (it had created lots of folders like /ar, /cs, /de, etc etc along with other files like /bin/AjaxControlTookKit.dll), then re-added the reference to AjaxControlToolKit. It will now upload, and works fine locally, but it didn't re-create anything in /bin. I have other references that work fine and have info in /bin (ie: /References/LinqKit.dll and /bin/LinqKit.dll) I cannot do a build on the server yet, but locally it works. So, will this work when its built on the server? Why didn't it recreate anything in the /bin folder? Is that something to do with Visual Web Developer Web Site vs Visual Studio Web Application/Solution? Any info is appreciated! Thanks.
References are references, not copies of the assemblies. Where are the assemblies you're trying to work with?
Typically, you'll want to check in third-party assemblies that you are not maintaining source. You'll then want to change the file references to point to the version from source control.
Of course, this means that all your developers and build machines will need to maintain the same folder structure on disk.