While the Knowledge Base article is being published you can find the list of fixes addressed by this QFE here:

• WPF Designer Crashes VS when updating a resource in an external resource dictionary
• Readonly attached collection properties (e.g. VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups) do not load in WPF designer
• WPF designer reports Error if users/codes set a databinding locally in a control and then clear that value
• WPF Designer fails to load in VS.NET 2008 SP1 (RTM)if the startup project is set to a Win32project
• Visual Studio crashes when you set and delete the Source property of WPF WebBrowser control
• Moving a control with MultiTrigger or DataTrigger in its Style causes WPF designer tol throw an InvalidCastException

You can downloadthe hotfixfrom here:http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/KB958017/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=1719

Note: This hotfix only applies to Visual Studio 2008 with Service Pack 1 installed.Please be aware that if you already have the latest version of the Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1, you DO NOT need and should NOT install this hotfix. All of the fixes in the hotfix package are already included in Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1.

Hi,

I installed this, now the WPF designer only crashes about 15 times a day instead of 25 (I always send error report hoping this helps MS figure out the issues). Usually due to resources, changing them in external resource dictionaries. Is this supposed to happen? Are there any other hotfixes I can install? I guess I can open another instance of devenv and attach to process and see what's going on...

Hi, Dan,

There is no other hotfixes right now. We understand that you still experience VS crash even after hotfix 958017 is applied. If you can send me a repro project, we would certainly look into it. My email is zhanbos AT microsoft DOT com.

Thanks!
Zhanbo

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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

I want to let all readers of this thread know about a known issue which has recently been fixed by a CLR hotfix KB963676. This fixes an issue whichcan cause the WPF designer in Visual Studio 2008 SP1 to crash.

If:
1.You experience a "hard crash", where Visual Studio simply disappears without any user interaction, watson dialogs etc
2. You check your event log around the times the crashes occur and see entries that look similar to this: �.NET Runtime version 2.0.50727.3053 - Fatal Execution Engine Error (6ABD0F92) (0)�

It is almost certain that you have the problem and will benefit from installing the Hotfix. Instructions for installing the Hotfix are below.

Instructions for installing KB963676 CLR Hotfix for the "Grant Set Exception" crash issue

1.Visit https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=16827&wa=wsignin1.0 (this is a temporary download page pending the release of the final KB article text for the CLR hotfix)

2.Download the correct version of the patch for your system (this is very important):
a.For Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 32 bit systems choose Windows6.0-KB963676-x86.msu
b.For Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 x64 bit systems choose Windows6.0-KB963676-x64.msu
c.For Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 ia64 bit systems choose Windows6.0-KB963676-ia64.msu
d.For Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 32 bit systems choose NDP20SP2-KB963676-x86.exe
e.For Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 x64 bit systems choose NDP20SP2-KB963676-x64.exe
f.For Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 ia64 bit systems choose NDP20SP2-KB963676-ia64.exe
g.Note:
•There is no Windows 7 version of this Hotfix �the fix will be rolled into the version of the .NET framework that ships with Windows 7 when it releases, but if you are running a prerelease Windows 7 such as the Beta release you will not be able to use this hotfix
•The 64 bit installers will automatically patch both 32 and 64 bit versions of the CLR �this is important as the Visual Studio WPF designer is a 32 bit application

3.Install the KB963676 Hotfix you downloaded, and reboot your system
4.Use Visual Studio 2008 SP1 to develop in WPF as usual

We believe this hotfix will fix many of the crashing issues WPF designer users have been experiencing.

Regards
Mark Wilson-Thomas

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Mark Wilson-Thomas - Program Team - WPF & SL Designer for Visual Studio - posts are provided 'as-is'

I installedthis KBwith being installed SilverLightTools and now my VS2008 crashes all the time.

Philipp,

Which hotfix did you install, KB963676 or KB958017? You shouldn't install the latter if you have SLTools installed (it alreadycontains the fixes includedin KB958017).

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Marco Goertz \ Sr. Dev Lead \ WPF Designer "Cider" \ Microsoft