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Fixing the GPF in Devshl.dll when starting VC++ 5 or 6

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4.64/5 (5 votes)

Jan 18, 2000

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Having problems with Devshl.dll? Don't reinstall Visual Studio until you've read this!

If you experience a GPF in devshl.dll when starting VC++, try the following (especially if the last time VC++ ran, you installed an addin or customized toolbars or menus).

  1. Start regedit
  2. Open HKCU\Software\Microsoft\DevStudio\6.0 (or 5.0)
  3. Select the Layout key
  4. Press F2 and rename it Layout.sav
  5. Try opening VC++ again
  6. If this doesn't allow VC++ to startup, reverse the key name change. Consider swapping in the mfc*.dlls from your VC CDs.
  7. If this does allow VC++ to start, go to the next section (Fixing the Layout Key)

Fixing the Layout key

Warning: you will lose some of your IDE customizations (window placement, toolbars, etc)
  1. Close VC++
  2. In regedit, delete the new Layout key
  3. Rename Layout.sav to Layout
  4. Open the Layout key, find all the values whose names start with Layout (ie HKCU\Software\Microsoft\DevStudio\6.0\Layout: value Layout0) and delete them. If you can't find any values named Layout? using regedit, then try using regedt32 - the UI isn't as nice, but it's not as buggy as regedit.