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 VAX keeps disabling [VS2015]
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icStatic
Junior Member

14 Posts

Posted - Oct 27 2015 :  5:13:22 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I have a bit of a weird one.

Every time I launch Visual Studio 2015 (Community) with the plugin installed the plugin shows as disabled on the next launch of Visual Studio in the extensions manager (grayscale icon, [Disabled] after the name). Despite this the menu is present, but none of the functionality is enabled. Pressing the Enable button and restarting VS fixes the issue, but only until VS is started again - at which point it is disabled again.

VS 2013 is also having a similar issue with the plugin disabling randomly but it does not appear to happen every run or with any pattern I can ascertain.

I've tried builds 2068 and 2076 and both exhibit the problem.

Is there any way to find out why the plugin is being disabled?

EDIT: In case it is relevant I'm running Windows 10.

Edited by - icStatic on Oct 27 2015 5:22:59 PM

feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
18751 Posts

Posted - Oct 27 2015 :  6:39:30 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
How are you loading the IDE? It's possible that the method you use to load the IDE could be a factor. Are you passing any command line arguments? Loading, unloading or changing other extensions?

I have seen VA get disabled like this when installing an update to the IDE, but that is a rare situation, so I am wondering if something else is happening that might explain this.

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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icStatic
Junior Member

14 Posts

Posted - Oct 27 2015 :  6:49:48 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Nothing out of the ordinary for launching it - just a taskbar icon. I've checked the command line and it just specifies devenv.exe.

I did however notice that I installed VS2015 to a different drive with the path "W:\\Installs\\VS2015RC". The install was previously the release candidate and I upgraded to RTM (I don't remember it asking me to uninstall, but it was a while ago now). I wonder if that is possibly a factor?

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I'm not modifying any other plugins at the time.
Literally: 1. Launch VS, 2. Go to extensions, 3. Enable VAX, 4. Restart VS, 5. Observe it working, 6. Close VS, 7. Reopen VS, 8. Observe it not working.

Edited by - icStatic on Oct 27 2015 7:04:13 PM
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
18751 Posts

Posted - Oct 28 2015 :  02:38:55 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
That's strange, definitely not what I would expect. It is interesting that there is such a simple and reliable pattern to this, I am just not sure what it means.

What is W drive? Is this a local installed hard drive? A mapped network drive? A removable drive? Something else?

Are you using an administrator or local user account?

Is your main drive C, or have you used a different drive letter for the main drive? VA should be installed in a directory under:

C:\\Users\\%USERNAME%\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\14.0\\Extensions\
how many sub-directories do you see here, assuming C is your primary drive letter?

Which version of VS2013 are you using? Do you also have VS2013 installed to a different drive and path, or was this installed to the default location?

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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icStatic
Junior Member

14 Posts

Posted - Oct 28 2015 :  09:07:43 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
At the path you specify there are the following files and folders:

a5ysan5g.cdz\\ - Cloud Explorer
evqazrsn.p0g\\ - React.js Starter Kit
osvt5afk.0oo\\ - VAX
s3jepuux.ehy\\ - VAX
so1veqbt.fnf\\ - Productivity Power Tools
ueaasoig.5ex\\ - Cloud Explorer
CompatibilityList.xml
extensions.en-GB.cache
extensions.en-US.cache
extensionSdks.en-GB.cache
extensionSdks.en-US.cache

Now that I know where the plugins live (thanks for the path), I deleted the entire lot and reinstalled VAX - which seems to have fixed the issue and now there is only one VAX folder. I then reinstalled the productivity power tools. Still working. The other two I didn't need.

I wonder if the two VAX folders above were clashing? I also noticed that Cloud Explorer was also disabled, but since I don't even remember installing that I didn't miss it, but that also had two folders. The first VAX folder seems to be dated (last modified) 28/09/2015, the second one was dated 27/10/2015. VA_X.dll in both folders has product version "10, 9, 2076, 0".

The only reason I can think of for there being two would be if an install for the RC was left around, but I installed the final version way before the modified date of that first extension so I really don't know.

I've kept a copy of the broken Extensions folder in case you want to inspect it.

Either way hopefully the info above can assist anyone else with a similar issue.

Thanks for your help!


Other info for reference:
My W drive is just a regular 1TB HDD I use as spill over from my SSD (C drive). My user account is an Administrator and I have UAC set to "Notify but don't dim".

My C drive is my main drive and where my Windows install lives with about 15gb free at the moment.

My VS2013 is Pro Update 4. This is installed to the default location on C drive. I also have VS2012 Pro installed (that I can uninstall now), and probably had VS2010 Pro installed at some point on this Windows install as well.
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
18751 Posts

Posted - Oct 28 2015 :  4:29:39 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Interesting, and a little unexpected. You should not have ended up with two install directories for VA, but it has been known to happen occasionally. I am not sure if or how this could have caused the problem, but I am glad you have found a solution

Since you mentioned having the same problem, but less frequently, in VS2013, its worth a look at the directory:

C:\\Users\\%USERNAME%\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\12.0\\Extensions\
the VS2013 extensions should be installed under this directory. It will be interesting to know if you have more than one directory for VA here as well.

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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icStatic
Junior Member

14 Posts

Posted - Oct 28 2015 :  5:48:04 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Interesting... I had THREE under the VS2013 folder. Two were 2076, one 2068.
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
18751 Posts

Posted - Oct 28 2015 :  6:03:17 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Two is unexpected, three is getting silly It will be interesting to know if clearing this out fixes your problem, and makes VA more reliable. Fingers crossed.

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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icStatic
Junior Member

14 Posts

Posted - Oct 28 2015 :  6:45:48 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
So far so good!
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
18751 Posts

Posted - Oct 28 2015 :  11:39:26 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Thank you for the update. I don't think I have seen this effect before, so its good to know how to fix it. Fingers crossed this keeps on working.

When you update VA, when a new build is released, you should end up with only one install directory, just with the new version rather than the old version. Still, its worth remembering this is what happened, in case the problem comes back again down the line.

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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