How can I fix the Microsoft Visual Studio error: "package did not load correctly"?

I started to see this on a fresh Windows and Visual Studio 2013 Ultimate with Update 2 installation (although others have also reported it on Updates 3 and 4, as well as the Professional version).

To resolve the problem, close all Visual Studio instances, then delete all files in the following folder:

Visual Studio 2013

%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\ComponentModelCache

It worked fine for me. Thanks to this article.

Visual Studio 2015

%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\ComponentModelCache

Visual Studio 2017

%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\15.0_xxxx\ComponentModelCache

Visual Studio 2019

%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\16_xxxx\ComponentModelCache

Visual Studio 2022

%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\17_xxxx\ComponentModelCache

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I encountered this problem in Visual Studio 2017 (15.7.4). After trying various solutions, eventually this worked for me: close all Visual Studio instances, and run this from the command line (possibly with administrator rights):

devenv.exe /clearcache
devenv /updateconfiguration

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Close Visual Studio.

Backup and delete the following path: C:\Users\{your_username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0

Restart Visual Studio as Admin. Otherwise, the Roaming folder can't be repaired by Visual Studio.

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Try devenv /setup on the Visual Studio Command Prompt with administrative rights.

I had the same problem with Visual Studio 2013 Ultimate. I tried the solution by Reza posted here, but it didn't work.

Eventually I couldn't close Visual Studio. It was showing a similar dialog when I tried to close, and it wasn't closing. I tried this: Error message "No exports were found that match the constraint contract name". Neither.

I noticed a message in the Team Explorer window saying "Page 'somenumber' cannot be found". I tried that way, and I found this answer: Page '312e8a59-2712-48a1-863e-0ef4e67961fc' not found using Visual Studio 2012. So I run devenv /setup on the Visual Studio Command Prompt with administrative rights.

It did the job, and everything is fine now.

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Solution for Visual Studio 2017:

Step 1: open Visual Studio cmd in administrator mode (see start menu item: Developer Command Prompt for VS 2017 - Be sure to use: Run as administrator)

Step 2: change directory to the folder where Visual Studio 2017 is installed, for example:

cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise

(You can copy/paste this command to your cmd prompt. For Visual Studio Professional, the folder will be called "Professional" instead of "Enterprise", etc.)

Step 3: copy/paste the below command

gacutil -if Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies\Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.8.0.dll

Hit Enter...

It will resolve the issue...

Otherwise, you can also add the following to the GAC as above:

Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.9.0.dll

Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.10.0.dll

Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.11.0.dll

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I had a similar problem, and I went to Control Panel → Programs and repaired the Visual Studio installation. It worked for me.

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I had the same problem. Try to remember the latest extension that you installed. I delete the latest extension from extensions and updates and restart Visual Studio. and the problem is solved. For me, the extension name is Productivity Power Tools

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I had a similar issue (Tizen Project type package did not load correctly) with Visual Studio 2017.

After trying all the answers above, and spending a few hours searching for a solution for the errors inside ActivityLog.XML, nothing worked for me.

Eventually, the solution was a Visual Studio Repair.

I assume that the repair process overrides some configurations that caused the problem.

Repair Visual Studio 2017
Repair Visual Studio 2019

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I also experienced this issue after installing Telerik Reporting. I was not able to launch any solution in Visual Studio 2013, nor could I close Visual Studio 2013.

After uninstalling the reporting package and deleting Local / Roaming AppData for Visual Studio 2012, the problem was fixed.

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In my case the error message is "The 'IntelliCodeCppPackage' package did not load correctly" (Visual Studio 2019):

https://i.stack.imgur.com/osqFR.png

I solved this is issue with these steps;

Disable the Visual Studio IntelliCode extension

Restart Visual Studio

Enable that extension again

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I tried everything except the repair. I even did an update. This is what fixed it for me:

Open "Developer Command Prompt for VS 2017" as Admin CD into (your path may vary) CD C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies Run command gacutil -i Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.11.0.dll Restart Visual Studio

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Based on this Connect feedback I fixed it by closing all opened documents and restarting Visual Studio. I use Visual Studio 2015.

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You need to find file devenv.exe.config in C:\Users\{user_name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\ and update it. (Or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\, depending on the location of your devenv.exe file.)

For this particular case, you should find rows that setup redirects for System.Collections.Immutable and change newVersion from 1.1.36.0 to 1.1.37.0.

The original article is How to restore Visual Studio 2015 after the Update 1 (dependency dance).

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I had this problem, and projects were not loading correctly or stating that they needed migration. The ActivityLog.xml showed an error with a particular extension. I uninstalled the extension and restarted Visual Studio. That resolved the issue.

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I also experienced the same error, "NPM package not installed correctly", while creating a Node.js project in Visual Studio 2015.

I resolved my issue by performing two steps:

Delete all files present in this location: C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\ComponentModelCache Restart Visual Studio. Open Visual Studio and go to menu Tools → NuGet Package Manager → Package Manager Settings → On the left side: You will see a drop down list: select Node.js, Tools → Npm → ClearCache → *OK

Then again try to create the project. It resolved my issue.

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I had the pleasure of experiencing this random problem in Visual Studio 2017 Enterprise.

I tried every solution here, and it didn't work, including the Visual Studio repair (which takes a while). Several hours in, I thought maybe I should actually check the ActivityLog.xml file.

https://i.stack.imgur.com/wXqBv.png

I uninstalled the offending extension from the 'Developer Command Prompt for VS2017' as an administrator since Visual Studio just freezed after open and nothing could be clicked.

Steps to uninstall - courtesy of jessehouwing.net

Find the vsix file you used to install the extension. Open it in your favorite archiver (mine is 7-Zip). Grab the extension's Id from the Identity node from the extension.vsixmanifest. Run (in my case) vsixinstaller /u:Microsoft.VisualStudio.LiveShare to remove the extension.

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Find the ComponentModelCache folder Delete Microsoft.VisualStudio.Default.cache Restart Visual Studio

Enjoy using Visual Studio.

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I had a similar problem.

After checking ActivityLog.xml and it said that it could not create an instance for the Extension/package name from a specific folder. I traced that path and I didn't find that folder it is looking for.

So I installed the extension again, I looked for the dll, and copied the containing folder contents to the folder Visual Studio is looking for.

So to recap:

Check if the folder in the error exists If not, create a new folder with the same name Look for the dll in the error in the Visual Studio folder, if not found, install the extension again If the error resists, search inside the Visual Studio folder in Program Files (x86) for the dll and open the containing folder Copy all the contents Paste inside the new folder you have created with the name mentioned inside the ActivityLog.xml

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Firstable, you need to be sure have the last Microsoft .NET Framework version, in my case, I had the 4.6 version and I have downloaded and updated the .NET Framework 4.8.03761 Developer Pack, from the official site:

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-framework/net48

Once I restarted my PC, to continue fixing that, I solved this problem by clearing Visual Studio Component Model Cache.

Just delete or rename this folder:

%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\ComponentModelCache or

%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VPDExpress\11.0\ComponentModelCache and restart Visual Studio.

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Since this is the top SO result in google for this issue, I'm going to leave my fix here for VS 2022 when experiencing this issue. I found it is commonly caused by an extension issue. In my particular case TypeScript Definition Generator was causing the issue and removing the extension solved it. To find which extension could be causing the issue, run VS with the /Log command line switch.

i.e.: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" /Log

After the error occurs, close VS and locate ActivityLog.xml found at %AppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\ActivityLog.xml. Search the log for any extensions reporting an error and uninstall it.

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I just wanted to mention that I got a similar error in SQL Server Management Studio 2016, where I basically ignored it. Later, I launched Visual Studio (2015), and this error occurred there as well.

I searched and found the answer here recommending that files be deleted from the

%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\ComponentModelCache

folder. However, in my case, this folder was empty.

Since I remembered that I saw the error in Management Studio first, I checked, and there was a similar folder at

%localappdata%\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\13.0\ComponentModelCache

This folder was not empty. I closed both Visual Studio and Management Studio, and deleted the files from this folder.

Afterwards, both Management Studio and Visual Studio launched without error.

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I had this problem after installing Crystal Reports for Visual Studio. I solved it by closing all Visual Studio instances and reinstalling Crystal Reports.

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I solved it:

Go to install Modify Go to "Installation location" tab Check "keep download cache after the installation" Modify

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My issue was Mysql connector net 6.4.4, Nuget, xamarin, VSPackage, EditorPackage and etc.. package did not load correctly.

My solution is below for vs2015

Open AppData location // all the configurations are updating on it. Backup and Remove the folder in which configuration error is thrown in the visual studio.

forex. If you have Nuget package did not load correctly error - Remove Nuget folder in Local and Roaming directories.

And also clear the data on AppData/Microsoft/visual Studio/14.0 for vs2015

that's it and it worked for me!...

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For Visual Studio 2019: I have done the following things to solve the problem

Backup the following Folder. After Taking backup and Delete This Folder C:\Users\munirul2537\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\16.0_add0ca51

Go to the installation panel of visual studio and do the following things

1.Go to install 2.Modify 3.Go to "Installation location" tab 4. Check "keep download cache after the installation" 5. Modify

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For Visual Studio 2017, 2019. I got this error and able to fix it just by enable the Live Share extension from extensions.

see the VS community page for detail.

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For others that have a similar problem but with live share.

In the visual studio installer there was a warning that live share was not installed correctly and a modification was pending, that would download live share again.

After completion of the modification the error was resolved.

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I had the same problem for Visual Studio 2019 v16.8.6. It was fixed after repair Visual Studio from Visual Studio Installer.

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After trying lots of options this worked for me (VS 2019):

Launch Developer Command Prompt for VS 2019 (Run as Administrator) cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies" Replace Community with your specific distribution. Execute the next line: gacutil -i Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.11.0.dll

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One more solution that worked for my colleague after trying all the others that did not work (for Visual Studio 2022).

Try this:

Close all instances of Visual Studio Go to: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows You should see a number of vX.0-like directories (e.g. v10.0A for Visual Studio 2022 Enterprise). Back-up and remove all those directories except the one matching your Visual Studio (in my case I'd remove everything except v10.0A). Start Visual Studio. The "package did not load correctly" warning will be gone.

Rationale: If you had older versions of Visual Studio installed previously, they will come with their own NETFX Tools which might not uninstall correctly together with those older instances of Visual Studio. The new Visual Studio will for some reason pick the old Tools and fail using them. Removing the redundant directories fixes it.

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