Visual C++ stops responding when you open or add files to a project

View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q231655

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SYMPTOMS

Starting the Open file dialog box in Visual C++ through the keyboard shortcut key or from the File menu will result in the following error:

Access Violation (0xC0000005) in DEVSHL.DLL at 0x5003eaed.
DevShl.Dll referenced memory at 0x0000000. The memory could not be read.

The same error occurs when you select Add to Project from the Files submenu from the Project menu.

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CAUSE

This problem occurs when there are too many ActiveX document servers registered on the computer.

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Unregister any known ActiveX document servers that are not needed on the system. In most cases, running the server executable with a /UNREGISTER switch will unregister the server.

Another solution is to use a Developer Studio Add-in to place the open and add-to-project features in Visual C++.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

241396 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/241396/ ) FileTool.exe replaces the open and add-to-project features in Visual C++

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a bug in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This bug was corrected in Visual C++ 6.0 Service Pack 4 .

For more information about Visual Studio service packs, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

194022 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/194022/ ) INFO: Visual Studio 6.0 Service packs, What, Where, Why

194295 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/194295/ ) HOWTO: Tell That a Visual Studio service Pack Is Installed

To download the latest Visual Studio service pack, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/Aa718353.aspx (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/Aa718353.aspx)

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