VS2008 crashes with "Fatal Execution Engine Error"

Question

Has anybody found a fix for Visual Studio crashing with this error (eventlog)?

.NET Runtime version 2.0.50727.3082 - Fatal Execution Engine Error (7A2E1132) (0)

It does this when I start debugging with a problem in the xaml. Visual Studio will then silently disappear.

I've looked at SO and MS Connect but haven't found a fix or workaround. I often read that you should disable all addins but I don't have any.

EDIT: Yes, I have SP1 and the following fixes installed:

Version 9.0.30729.1 SP

KB944899 KB945140 KB945282 KB946040 KB946308 KB946344 KB946581 KB947171 KB947173 KB947180 KB947540 KB947789 KB947888 KB948127 KB953256 KB956453 KB957912 KB958017

Answer 1

Every time I've seen this, it's because you end up with two different versions of WPF loaded at the same time (i.e. one from GAC and one from Reference Assemblies).

In the .csproj file, is there a line called something to the effect of "Allow XAML to be Compiled in Same AppDomain"? (Sorry I can't actually remember the real name) - Blend likes to put this in and it causes problems.

Answer 2

I have had crashing problems with VS2008's WPF designer too. I workaround by avoiding the designer and editing the XAML by hand.

Answer 3

Thanks to Paul I found a very strange workaround (I verified it a few times)

• open the solution
• unload the project (context menu)
• edit the csproj (context menu), don't make any changes
• reload the project (contect menu)

If I do that before I start the debugger VS will not crash.

Answer 4

Have you updated your VS install to SP1? There are a number of crashes fixed in the SP1 patch.

If you have installed SP1, try installing the following patch as well. It's a further fix for debugger related issues in VS 2008 SP1

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957912

Answer 5

I had the same problem when trying to edit an ASP.NET MVC master page or view. I found this link. I had MBUnit Gallio installed on my machine with VS2008 integration. The problem went away when I uninstalled Gallio.

Answer 6

I just solved this problem (well the symptom anyway) by creating a new solution and adding all the projects in the "problem" solution into this new solution. After doing this and discarding the old solution, everything works fine.