Installed IE 8 final the other day and since when i debug in VS 2008 with an asp.net project I get an error, sometimes:

Unable to start program http://localhost:50183/directory/asppage.aspxelement not found.

Now, it does open IE 8 , but IE 8 says connecting I cannot close it except by the task manager. This does not happen all the time. This is driving me nuts and I cannot find any information on this issue anywhere.

Any information on how to address this issue would be great.

I think I fixed it. It doesn't seem to happen when I turn protected mode off. Seems like a security concern, but so far after a few debugs all seems well...

I am having the same problem and also can only close IE8 by using task manager. The errors are not consistent. Sometimes thebrowser will not evenstart but usually it shows as "connecting".

I am getting the same error on two machines running vs 2008 sp1 with IE 8 installed. It is so spuratic. On this laptop It doesn't happen as much, although if I go into power saving mode or try to browse with ie 8 in another window while stating the debugger I get the error. This is a real annoyance there has to be alot more people having this issue. Any advice would be great.

Hello Vecdid,

Based on my understanding, we have an ASP.NET web application, when we press F5 (Start Debugging) in Visual Studio 2008, it sometimes shows us: Unable to start program, element not found.And sometimes IE 8 opened, but justshows Connectiong...If I misunderstand you, please don't hesitate and correct me.

I did some tests on my machine, and here are my steps:
1. create a new web application
2. set a breakpoint at the beginning of the Page_Load event
3. press F5 and start debugging
4. IE 8 was launched and showed Connecting..., the breakpoint got hit at the mean time.
Hence, this is a normal situation if we set a breakpoint at the Page_Load event.
Do you happened to set some breakpoints there?

Please following the steps below toverify if the Enable HTTP Keep-Alives option is checked in IIS:
1. OpenInternet Information Services (IIS)Manager
2. Expand the Web Sites node
3. Right click the Default Web Site node and choose Properties
4. Click Web Site tab and find the Connections section
5. Check Enable HTTP Keep-Alives check box

For more information to troubleshoot the issue, please refer to the link below and check those options:
Error: unable start debugging on the Web Server:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dwesw3ee(VS.80).aspx

Best regards,

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Welcome to the All-In-One Code Framework!

I am not running IIS, I am using the built in development webserver that comes with VS 2008. There isn't a breakpoint and it doesn't happen all the time. Here is exactly the error I get when trying to start a project:

This is from a from the template blank asp.net solution...

Title: Microsoft Visual Studio
Error: Unable to start program
'http://localhost:49662/Website1/Default.aspx'

Element Not Found

This started when I installed IE 8 Release. When I roll back on one of my other machines, the error no longer occurs.

I never installed any betas.

It doesn't happen all the time, I notice it happens more when I am browsing while starting the debugger.

IE 8 opens hanging at connecting, I cannot close it without going into task manager and end tasking on it.

I also noticed that when I click to open IE 8 by shortcut it opens two iexplorer.exe but I only ever see one open in a window.

This also happens when debugging. One will be like 4 mb of ram and the other like 100k.

When I end task on one it kills the other, although I only see one window.

The error is not because of the two as that happens when just launching IE8.

Any ideas?

Also I am running Vista Ult sp1 on one pc and home pro on the other

I also reset the browser after the upgrade from IE7 to 8

I think I fixed it. It doesn't seem to happen when I turn protected mode off. Seems like a security concern, but so far after a few debugs all seems well...

In IE 8
Go into tools internet options.

Click on security
Clieckon trusted sites

Add localhost as a trusted site.
Make sure protected mode checkbox is unchecked
Click OK

i still have the problem

any other solution?

visual studio 2008 sp1
windows vista business sp1
ie8

is the issue intermittent for you?

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Application Developer

It doesn't seem to be intermittent for me. Just upgraded from IE7 to IE8 on Vista Business, and now I can no longer start my ASP.NET site in debug mode - I get the error every time!

[Edit]
Correction. SOMETIMES I don't get the issue. MOST times I do. Very frustrating. I've added localhost to the trusted sites, and made sure 'protected mode' is off. Any other suggestions? I'm tempted to uninstall IE8, but as our users are starting to migrate to it, I really need to be able to support it.

I've had this problem for quite some time now... It appears to be worst when I have IIS running. I was just using it for the FTP site. When I stop these services, I can connect with IE8 first time, everytime. I would rather not shut down my ftp site so if anyone has another solution........

i met this problem after install windows7 rc with vs8 + sp1. any solution on this?

I'm having the same problem in Windows XP with Visual Studio 2008 and IE8. My understanding is that there is no protected mode under XP, so that can't be the problem. I am 100% sure that this error started to appear after I upgraded to IE8. It occurs about 1 out of every 5 times I start debugging a web application using the Visual Studio test server, not IIS.

Getting very frustrated with this. It seems nobody has any solution.

I agree. Could anyone at least suggest a better place to report this bug?

You can add me to the list of people with the same problem.  You would think someone at Microsoft would see these and do something about it.

OK.  I solved the problem.  I ran two web sites in Visual Web Developement 2008 Express (one I wrote and one that I got off a Microsoft Tutorial) and they both failed with the message "Unable to start program "http://localhost:..."

I then closed Visual Web Developement 2008 Express and opened Visual Web Developement 2005.  I ran the same two web sites and they worked perfectly.

You can add me to the list of people with the same problem.  You would think someone at Microsoft would see these and do something about it.

OK.  I solved the problem.  I ran two web sites in Visual Web Developement 2008 Express (one I wrote and one that I got off a Microsoft Tutorial) and they both failed with the message "Unable to start program "http://localhost:..."

I then closed Visual Web Developement 2008 Express and opened Visual Web Developement 2005.  I ran the same two web sites and they worked perfectly.

lol, terrific.  Has this issue persisted with VS 2K8 SP1 anyone? 

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Application Developer