visual-studiovisual-studio-2017sln-file

Visual Studio 2017 hangs while loading a solution

I have a solution containing 4 projects.

Every time I start Visual Studio 2017 Community (15.6.2) and load the solution, it hangs itself while loading in the first project (Ananas).

screenshot

I can sit and wait for it to load for 30 minutes or more, but the progress bar will just keep animating. I have to totally kill Visual Studio to stop this.

If I then delete the solution folder, and unpack it anew from a backup archive that I have stashed away and load it up again, it loads the first time without hanging. But when I close the solution, close Visual Studio, restart and load it again, it starts to hang again.

Solution

  • If you inspect the Solution (SLN) file, you may find duplicate GUIDs for two or more of the projects. See the example below.

    Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "Ananas", "Ananas\Ananas.csproj", "{F16C0F09-8509-4370-B4FF-C6E1C1C27C31}"
EndProject
Project("{9A19103F-16F7-4668-BE54-9A1E7A4F7556}") = "Bananas", "Bananas\Bananas.csproj", "{9D7771AE-8A04-438E-858A-7DBD42025BF4}"
EndProject
Project("{9A19103F-16F7-4668-BE54-9A1E7A4F7556}") = "Cherries", "Cherries\Cherries.csproj", "{91FB0CB7-5DC1-4B86-B33C-F22BE6A11CF2}"
EndProject
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "Dewberries", "Dewberries\Dewberries.csproj", "{424ABA82-B745-4376-8A52-632B9016608E}"
EndProject

    As you can see the first and the last project have the same GUID, and the two projects in the middle have the same GUID as well. What you need to do is generate a valid GUID to differentiate the conflicting projects. Such that, you get something like the following.

    Project("{2CD1389C-9B3D-41E9-9AC4-FB6402671C81}") = "Ananas", "Ananas\Ananas.csproj", "{F16C0F09-8509-4370-B4FF-C6E1C1C27C31}"
EndProject
Project("{73ED998E-CD14-48E9-8193-A60F496F9CD7}") = "Bananas", "Bananas\Bananas.csproj", "{9D7771AE-8A04-438E-858A-7DBD42025BF4}"
EndProject
Project("{9A19103F-16F7-4668-BE54-9A1E7A4F7556}") = "Cherries", "Cherries\Cherries.csproj", "{91FB0CB7-5DC1-4B86-B33C-F22BE6A11CF2}"
EndProject
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "Dewberries", "Dewberries\Dewberries.csproj", "{424ABA82-B745-4376-8A52-632B9016608E}"
EndProject

    To generate valid GUIDs, I suggest that you use an online tool for this, such as Online GUID Generator.