Visual studio debug console sometimes stays open and is impossible to close

Question

Hey,

EDIT #3 : Microsoft has released a 'fix' to this problem which is available here. I haven't had the time to test it, but I those who want to are welcome to leave their feedback here !

Sometimes when I run an application from Visual Studio and it crashes or I stop it using the stop button in the debug menu (Debug->Stop Debugging (Shift-F5)), the console of said application stays open... and never closes. I cannot close it by clicking the 'x' button in the top right corner. I cannot kill the process as it is not even listed in taskmgr.

I have seen this problem documented in different places on the web, but no solution so far.

I am running on windows XP SP3, using visual studio 2008 w/ SP1.

1- What could be causing this ?
2- Is there a fix ?

thanks alot.

JC

EDIT: There is no MyApp.vshost.exe process to close, and closing visual studio does not close the console either. Worse even, if I try to restart my computer windows will hang and never close, I need to do a forced shut down.

EDIT #2 : (from Brad Sullivan, Program Manager - Visual Studio Debugger on March 2nd)

[...] this issue is likely not in Visual Studio since it also occurs in scenarios where Visual Studio is not present. We are in the process of handing over our investigation to the Windows Servicing team.

But for now, removing the KB978037 update and it's related files seems to work.

Answer 1

There are a couple of things that could be happening here. Try closing down the following process and see which one, if any close down the Console application as well.

• The Hosting Process: Typically named YourExecutable.vshost.exe
• Visual Studio

If closing the hosting process fixes the issue then one quick work around is to disable the hosting process itself.

Right Click on Project -> Properties -> Debug -> Uncheck the hosting process

If closing down Visual Studio fixes the problem then it's potentially a bug in Visual Studio. Please file a bug on connect.

http://connect.microsoft.com

Answer 2

This is a bug introduced in security update KB978037. Back out this update and you'll be back to normal.

Also see here:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vsdebug/thread/e6d4a4f5-7002-401a-90e1-6174d7f9e3ca

Answer 3

Visual Studio Debugger Team has already acknowledge this issues on their blog. check the below url for more information.

http://blogs.msdn.com/debugger/archive/2010/03/11/help-my-console-windows-won-t-go-away.aspx

Answer 4

Microsoft has released a 'fix' to this problem which is available here. I haven't had the time to test it, but I those who want to are welcome to leave their feedback here !