The Visual Studio 2010 development environment crashes when you close the development environment

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

• In the Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 development environment, you work on an application.

• You install a third-party Visual Studio extension, such as DevExpress Visual Studio Productivity Tools, in the development environment.

• You close the Visual Studio 2010 development environment.

In this scenario, the application may crash when you try to close the application by closing the development environment. Then, you receive a Dr. Watson error that contains the following information:

Note To check Dr. Watson error information, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then type problem reports in the Search box.

2. If the computer is running Windows Vista, click View problem history. If the computer is running Windows 7, click View all problem reports.

3. In the Problem Reports and Solutions window, double-click the specific problem that you encounter.

4. View the information in the Problem signature section.
   

Note The methods that are described in this article apply to Windows Vista and to Windows 7. Check online for methods that apply to other operating systems.

Cause

This problem can occur when you install a third-party extension that incorrectly tries to access the user interface of the development environment after the Visual Studio services were released. Older versions of the DevExpress Visual Studio Productivity Tools can cause this issue.

Resolution

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft website:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

Status

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.