Article ID: 922276 - Last Review: December 11, 2006 - Revision: 1.3

Error message when you try to run a Visual C# project in the Visual Studio 2005 IDE: "The binding handle is invalid"

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SYMPTOMS

When you try to run a Microsoft Visual C# project in the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 IDE, you may receive the following error message:

Error while trying to run project: Unable to start debugging. The binding handle is invalid.

You can run the project if you press CTRL+F5. However, the project runs outside the IDE without the debugging capability.

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CAUSE

This behavior occurs because the Terminal Services service is disabled. The Visual Studio 2005 debugger uses Terminal Services for process listing.

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RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, enable the Terminal Services service, and then restart the computer. To do this, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Run, type Services.msc, and then click OK.
Right-click Terminal Services, and then click Properties.
In the Terminal Services Properties (Local Computer) dialog box, click Automatic in the Startup type list, and then click OK.

Note Alternatively, click Manual in the Startup type list. If you do this, you must start Terminal Services manually every time that you start the computer.
Restart the computer.