When I try to switch to design view of any form, aspx, or html, the entire program freezes and I heave to end task.

It also freezes if I click Tools, Options, HTML Designer, CSS Styling.

Any help would be appreciated.

I have the same problem.  When it freezes, I notice that its using upwards of 200MB of memory in the task list.  The only way I can get out of it is to end task on it.  I'm using Visual Studio 2008 Professional.

Doesn't anyone at Microsoft test this stuff?

This information may help: http://blogs.msdn.com/mikhailarkhipov/archive/2007/12/14/compatibility-problem-between-vs-2008-and-office-2000-and-how-to-fix-it.aspx

Doesn't help....  I'm talking about the entire dev envelopment locking up as is the other gentleman.  Not that design view doesn't work or is "broken".  Anyone else experience lock-ups in VS?  If so, have you discovered a fix yet?

Thanks for a quick response. 

The file fpcutl.dll is only on my hard drive once, at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Web Designer Tools\VWD".  The version number is 12.0.4518.1066.  I don't think that is the problem.

Try obtaining a dump in task manager (on Vista): when VWD locks up, please open Task Manager, switch to Processes, right click on vwdexpress.exe and choose Create Dump. Make 3-4 of them, zip them into an archive and open a bug on http://connect.microsoft.com

 I found a work-around.

The link to the Office compatibility problem gave me an idea. This is a new computer that came with Office 2007 preloaded but in order to use it I would have to buy it seperately. Since I have no need for Office, I uninstalled it. It left a folder with a few files in it (Common Files/Microsoft Shared/Office 12).

I uninstalled VWD 2008 and deleted the Office 12 folder. I then reinstalled VWD 2008, but it still did not work. I then ran the installations for WebDesignerCore, WinSDK, and RDBG(x64) that are in the VWDExpress folder of the installation DVD. Finally, I re-installed the VS90-KB946581 hot fix. Now everything appears to be working.

Thanks for the help.

 I have the same issue. It is a new pc with office 2007 pre-installed. I uninstalled it the first day. My design view doesn't work. I don't have any file called fpcutl.dll and the variable 'path' doesn't include anything neither about visual web dev nor about office. I installed the VS90-KB946581 fix and it did not change anything.

I don't know what to do to solve that bug. Any help is welcome ;-)

Thanks.
 

I was able to get it working by:

1. uninstalling Web Developer Express 2008
2. deleting the folder "c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Office 12" (it may be in "c:\Program Files (x86)\..." on Vista)
3. re-installing Web Developer Express 2008
4. install WebDesignerCore from the Web Developer Express 2008 installation media (I downloaded the dvd image and burned it to a dvd)
5. install WinSDK from the Web Developer Express 2008 installation media.
6. install RDBG\x64 from the Web Developer Express 2008 installation media.
7. re-install the VS90-KB946581 hot fix.

Now Web Developer 2008 Express works great on my computer.

 I hope this helps.

Thank you for your reply.
I am downloading the visual express dvd image to try what you've done. Concerning the uninstall, did you uninstall only vwd or also the three SDK programms?

Thanks again.
 

 I could not install RDGB since I run on a x32 machine.
However I did everything else and it works now :-)

Thanks a lot. 

I'm glad it worked for you also.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I'm having a similar experience with trying to open a web site project in VWD EE 2008 today.

My scenario is that I copied an existing web site (i.e., "PROJ_1" is now "PROJ_1A" for the purposes of trying VWD EE 2008) and then asked to open "PROJ_1A". The open dialog appear and then (after selecting the apprioriate project directory) NOTHING HAPPENS?

HUH?

A few months ago, I tried VWD EE 2008 on a smaller project (for a "taste test") and it worked fine.

Any suggestions, ideas gratefully accepted. :)   KevInKauai

 [P.S. On a hunch I found the "hotfix" info here and downloaded and updated that. Same results.]

 ==================================================================

DISPOSITION: Pilot error! (NOTE TO SELF: If the "Solution Explorer" is hidden in a tab and you open a project never before opened in VWD EE 2008 NOTHING will change -- no page references across the top -- and it will look like NOTHING has happened.)

:) KevInKauai

I have the same problem with Visual Studio 2008 on Vista Business. I have tried to uninstall and reinstall, aply the patches, checked the system PATH but no success.

I have noticed when I click the Design or Split button in the web designer window, VS seems to run a setup.exe from the "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\OFFICE12\Office Setup Controller" directory. This process appears in task manager, takes  2804kB and seems to do nothing else. I have managed to locate the log file from this setup application:

PERF: TickCount=2132440 Name=OBootStrapper::Run Description=Begin function
Operating System version: 6.0.6000 . Platform ID: 2
Running on a 32-bit operating system.
Command line: C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\OFFICE12\OFFICE~1\SETUP.EXE -Embedding
Parsing command line.
Running SETUPEXE as a COM server.
Using setup controller dll at location [C:\Users\Dlouhy.TCL\AppData\Local\Temp\Setup00001054\OSETUP.DLL].
Verify file signature in "C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\OFFICE12\OFFICE~1\SETUP.EXE"
Verify file signature in "C:\Users\Dlouhy.TCL\AppData\Local\Temp\Setup00001054\OSETUP.DLL"
Using setup controller dll at [C:\Users\Dlouhy.TCL\AppData\Local\Temp\Setup00001054\OSETUP.DLL].
PERF: TickCount=2133875 Name=OBootStrapper::Run Description=Calling RunSetup
Opening log file C:\Users\Dlouhy.TCL\AppData\Local\Temp\SetupExe(200803311419401054).log.

Does someone have any idea what that means or how to solve the problem?

I would try these two things, in this order.

First, run the setup.exe in the "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\OFFICE12\Office Setup Controller" directory by right-clicking on it and pick "Run as Administrator". 

If that doesn't fix the problem, rename the file to "setup.exe.bak" and hopefully it will not run.

Thanks,

i tried to run the setup with no results. After renaming the setup file the designer seems to work ok.