Windows 7 - WPF - Framework 3.5 - Content not displaying in developer or when running

Question

Help.

I seem to have broken WPF 3.5 on my development box. If I bring up VS2008 and create a new, blank WPF app, it does not display the designer. If fact, I can see the desktop wallpaper through VS 2008. If I run the app, I get a window with the same see-through properties. Plus if I drag the app window around, it leaves artifiacts all over the screen.

If I create a new WPF 4.0 app in VS 2010 - no problem. If I target the app to 3.5 - the designer does not go crazy, but I get the same run-time issue as with VS 2008.

Please help!

L. Lee Saunders

Answer 1

I don't know the exact cause of this problem, but I'd go about trial and error type of fixing:

1) Did Visual Studio work properly before? 2) Have you changed anything recently after which VS stopped working? 3) Are your video drivers up to date? 4) Have you tried reseting VS settings (tools -> import and export settings -> reset all settings)? 5) Have you tried reinstalling VS? 6) If you run a another WPF app (not launched from VS) is it seethrough as well, does it leave artifacts behind? 7) Try system restore to a previous time, where VS worked. 8) If all else fails reinstall Windows... 9) If problem persists after reinstall, it's probably your hardware (graphics card for example)...