PRB: Error Occurs When Starting Visual InterDev, Visual J++ or Visual C++ (248313)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual Studio, Enterprise Edition 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual InterDev 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual J++ 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Editions 6.0
This article was previously published under Q248313

SYMPTOMS

You can install or reinstall Visual InterDev, Visual J++, or Visual C++ without error. However, when you start any of these Visual Studio products:
  • One of the following error messages appears:
    Devenv.exe Application Error - "memory could not be read"
    The memory could not be "written"
    Unable to load development environment DLL
    -or-

  • Application startup begins but stops at the "splash" screen, and no error message is displayed. -or-

  • Other unusual behavior occurs during startup.
Sometimes the Visual InterDev or Visual J++ programs will work for other users on the same computer as long as they are logged in as separate users with different Windows NT user accounts.

CAUSE

This error is caused by a corrupt user profile for the Visual Studio user, or corruption of the user data identity.

RESOLUTION

  1. Find and delete all files that have an extension of .prf, .tbd, or .dat in the following folders:

    For NT 4.0 systems:
    X:\WINNT\Profile\<user profile>\Application Data\Microsoft\Visual Studio

    For Windows 2000:
    X:\Documents and Settings\<user profile>\Application Data\Microsoft\Visual Studio

    For Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition:
    X:\Windows\Profiles\<user profile>\Application Data\Microsoft\Visual Studio

    where X is the system drive or partition.

    If the problems persist after you have deleted the profiles, you can delete the local configuration files for the integrated development environment (IDE). This includes the following files:

    Views.prf: Maintains window states, layouts, and positions.

    Cmdui.prf: Stores all menu and button customizations.

    Toolbox.tbd: Stores all tabs and references to controls added to the Toolbox.

    Objbrow.dat: Stores references to other libraries that you choose in the Select Current Packages/Libraries dialog box.

    Find and delete all occurrences of these files on your computer. You will lose all customizations of the IDE, but new versions of the
    deleted files will be generated. This eliminates corrupt information or orphaned references to items that may cause problems in the IDE.
    Rename the *.prf, *.dat, and *.tbd files found in this folder as *.123.

    Note: Visual InterDev rebuilds these items for the user when started.
  2. If the first step did not resolve the problem, create a new user on the local computer and log on as that new user. Test the Visual Studio product. If it performs as expected, you will have to rename your existing user profile and log on to create a new one.

    NOTE: If you choose to rename the profile, you will be able to cut and paste your other settings back into the new profile. However, neither the ...\\Application Data\Identity\ folder or the ..\\Application Data\Microsoft\Visual Studio folder should not be copied over to the new profile once it has been recreated.

    User profiles are located as follows:

    Windows 2000: \Documents and Settings\<user profile>

    NT 4.0: \Winnt\Profiles\<user profile>

    Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Millennium Edition: \Windows\Profiles\<user profile>

MORE INFORMATION

If the splash screen remains in view indefinitely when you start any of these Visual Studio 6.0 products, it may be due to display driver conflicts. For additional information on these types of errors, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260570 PRB: Visual Studio 6.0 Setup Stops Responding on Windows 2000 When You Are Using the Matrox Dual Head G400

288873 Setup Stops Responding During Installation Or Upgrade to Windows 2000

If the recommended steps for solution fail and you do not have Visual Studio 6.0 Service Pack (SP) 5 (or the corresponding Visual Studio component product's update) installed, update the product. For more information and a link to download Visual Studio SP5 see the following Microsoft Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/updates/sp/vs6/sp5/default.aspx

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

  1. Create new *.prf files under the following folder and use erroneous information and the *.prf names:

    WINNT\profile\microsoft\<user profile>\application data\microsoft\visual studio

  2. Try to start Visual InterDev, Visual J++, or Visual C++.

REFERENCES

For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

197122 PRB: 'Memory Could Not Be Read' Error in Visual Studio Setup

248675 Error Message: Unable to Load Development Environment DLL

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/15/2005
Keywords:kbprb KB248313 kbAudDeveloper
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