'ConnectedServicesPackages' - Visual Studio 2015

Question

When opening a project, this dialog window comes up:

Here is the last entry of ActivityLog.xml:

443 2015/12/05 12:15:28.599 Error VisualStudio CreateInstance failed for package [ConnectedServicesPackage][Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\ep43w4ri.131\Microsoft.VisualStudio.ConnectedServices.Package2.dll' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.]:{ at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly._nLoad(AssemblyName fileName, String codeBase, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly locationHint, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks) at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.nLoad(AssemblyName fileName, String codeBase, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly locationHint, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks) at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadAssemblyName(AssemblyName assemblyRef, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly reqAssembly, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks) at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadFrom(String assemblyFile, Evidence securityEvidence, Byte[] hashValue, AssemblyHashAlgorithm hashAlgorithm, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks, StackCrawlMark& stackMark) at System.Reflection.Assembly.LoadFrom(String assemblyFile, Evidence securityEvidence) at System.Activator.CreateInstanceFromInternal(String assemblyFile, String typeName, Boolean ignoreCase, BindingFlags bindingAttr, Binder binder, Object[] args, CultureInfo culture, Object[] activationAttributes, Evidence securityInfo) at System.AppDomain.CreateInstanceFrom(String assemblyFile, String typeName)} {8E15F3DA-B303-4AF9-814A-1DC5C2583398}

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80070002 Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\ep43w4ri.131\Microsoft.VisualStudio.ConnectedServices.Package2.dll' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Download the ActivityLog.xml.

I realize there are similar question about missing packages, but the solution for each package is different, and I couldn't find any information about my issue.

From the log it seems the dll file is missing, how do I resolve this?

Answer 1

May be you can just search for file Microsoft.VisualStudio.ConnectedServices.Package2.dll in other extensions folders in your C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\ and copy this file (and may be Microsoft.VisualStudio.ConnectedServices.dll) to needed location C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\ep43w4ri.131 (like in question... this location can be different and you must check exactly path in ActivityLog.xml)

This solution works for me.

Answer 2

I encountered this problem with Visual Studio Update 2. I wasn't able to shut down Visual Studio anymore. Uninstalling the Microsoft Connected Services extension, resolved the issue. Warning: It will also uninstall Microsoft Office 365 API tools, Develop Analytics Tools v5.2.0 and Microsoft Azure Storage Connected Services. These extensions cannot be reinstalled later.

Answer 3

This is one of the many problems I've had with VS2015 Update 1.

Uninstall the azure extensions Tools->Extensions and Updates..., I can't recall exactly which ones I uninstalled (everything that said "ConnectedServices" or some such), but you can easily re-install later.