I am running Visual Studio 2017 15.3.2 and I just encountered this issue a second time. The first time I didn't bother posting, it was when updating to 15.3 from 15.2, and I "solved" it by deleting the privateregistry.user.bin file.

And the same thing solved it this time.

I also have the same kind of user account scenario - my regular user is a domain user WITHOUT admin privileges on my workstation. For when I need it, I have a machine local administrator account that I use in order to install software and otherwise.

OS is Windows 7 Enterprise

Hi Huy.

Today I update VS 2017 to the your most recent build 15.3:

When I start VS like admin everything works just fine, but when I try to start VS like normal user I get this NEW message window:

Package management initialization failed: Access Denied.

You can get more information by examining the file: C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\15.0_ec8ebbf4\ActivityLog.xml

It's better that Unknown error message window in the previous VS2017 builds, but it's time to solve this problem once and for all.

There is result of your C# program in the file result.txt that you want:

Exception from execution: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Private hive does not exist.

File name: '%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\15.0_ec8ebbf4\privateregistry.bin|privateregistry.user.bin' at PrivateRegistryTest.Program.GetPrivateHiveFilePath() at PrivateRegistryTest.Program.Execute()

Please, can you consider to prepare some hotfix for this "VS2017's win7 update issue", otherwise VS2017 is unusable on win7. We are planned to install VS2017 to all lab PCs in our university for this semester. But without solving this issue we cannot!!

This looks like serious problem, no just some issue (delete couple of files and everything is fine).

We are simply cannot delete VS app data: "%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\15.0_[UniqueID]" for all my student on all my lab computers, every time when you are release new VS 2017 build.

We need hotfix ASAP, because new semester coming, otherwise all our labs must stuck in the VS2015, and it will be shame for all your VisualStudio team, because every student will ask me why is on the lab installed old VS2015 only.

BTW: Export your current VS settings with Tools | Import and Export Settings is unachievable task, because VS2017 simply don't start.

PS: Don't hesitate to contact me for more information.

Regards,

petyovsky@feec.vutbr.cz

,

Hi Huy.

Some result when I update to VS2017 (15.3)

Package management initialization failed: Access Denied.

You can get more information by examining the file: C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\15.0_ec8ebbf4\ActivityLog.xml

There is content of your result.txt that you want:

Exception from execution:
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Private hive does not exist.
File name: '%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\15.0_ec8ebbf4\privateregistry.bin|privateregistry.user.bin'
  at PrivateRegistryTest.Program.GetPrivateHiveFilePath()
  at PrivateRegistryTest.Program.Execute()

Please, can you consider prepare some hotfix for this "VS2017's win7 update issue", otherwise VS2017 is unusable on win7.

We are planned to install VS2017 to all lab PCs in our university for this semester. But without solving this issue we cannot!!

This looks like serious problem, no just some issue (delete couple of files and everything is fine).

We are cannot delete VS app data: "%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\15.0_[UniqueID]" for all my student on all my lab computers, everytime when you release new VS 2017 build.

We need hotfix ASAP, because new semester comming.

BTW: Export your current VS settings with Tools | Import and Export Settings is unachievable task, because VS2017 simply don't start.

Regards,

Peter

Hi. After updating to latest build, I cannot open VS2017 with admin privileges even. How to downgrade to previous build?

activitylog.txt

Same issue here, with an Access Denied dialog on startup, and corresponding entry in ActivityLog.xml:

<entry>
    <record>29</record>
    <time>2017/08/25 09:48:50.306</time>
    <type>Error</type>
    <source>VisualStudio</source>
    <description>Failed to process PkgDef file</description>
    <hr>80070005 - E_ACCESSDENIED</hr>
    <errorinfo></errorinfo>
    <path>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\Common7\IDE\Extensions\ClassDesigner_REG_27921.3643236F_FC70_11D3_A536_0090278A1BB8.pkgdef</path>
  </entry>

This issue persists for quite a while now (previously the "Unknown Error" issue on startup), and forces me to delete privateregistry.bin every single time, losing my settings.

(Win 7, non-Admin account.)

On a related note: Why is it that the keyboard shortcuts are not affected, while editor settings are?

I have VS 15.3.5 and even deleting privateregistry.user.bin & privateregistry.bin is working until next vs start, losing all the settings and previously enabled extensions is not suitable for a professional product. furthermore I cannot launch VS with Administrative privilege even by deleting private registry bin, as a consequence none of vsix extension that require admin privileges can be installed, SSDT in particular. Very disappointing from Microsoft.

To all people having this problem, we would appreciate if you can please try the following workaround:

• Make sure you are logged in as the regular non-elevated user you use for running Visual Studio
• Export your current VS settings with Tools | Import and Export Settings..., as the next steps will cause your settings to be lost
• Download the attached workaround.txt
• Launch a "Developer command prompt for VS 2017"
• Run "csc Workaround.txt /target:exe"
• Run Workaround.exe and add as a parameter the directory where your privateregistry.bin file resides. For example: "workaround.exe c:\users\<user>\appdata\local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\15.0_[UniqueID]"
• The program will prompt for elevation credentials, and after you provide them will create a new empty "privateregistry.bin" file in the directory that was provided as a parameter.

After this you should be able to start Visual Studio and use it normally, and we expect that you will not see the "Access Denied" error again. Please do let us know if this workaround does not work for you, as well as if you still experience the problem after using the workaround.

As Huy has mentioned before, we are actively investigating the root cause for this issue.

Same here, but also in 15.3.4. Windows 7, devenv run from standard user account.

Happened for the first time ever, after upgrading from 15.3.3 (or maybe 15.3.2, not sure) Package management initialization failed: Access Denied.

Fixed after deleting local app data\15.0_unique

<entry> <record>29</record> <time>2017/09/13 18:43:07.127</time> <type>Error</type> <source>VisualStudio</source> <description>Failed to process PkgDef file</description> <hr>80070005 - E_ACCESSDENIED</hr> <errorinfo></errorinfo> <path>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\Common7\IDE\Extensions\DSLTextTemplatingRegistry_x86.pkgdef</path> </entry>

<entry> <record>30</record> <time>2017/09/13 18:43:07.127</time> <type>Error</type> <source>VisualStudio</source> <description>PkgDef loading aborted</description> <hr>80070005 - E_ACCESSDENIED</hr> <errorinfo></errorinfo> </entry> <entry> <record>41</record> <time>2017/09/13 18:43:07.129</time> <type>Error</type> <source>VisualStudio</source> <description>Failed to process PkgDef file</description> <hr>80070005 - E_ACCESSDENIED</hr> <errorinfo></errorinfo> <path>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\Common7\IDE\Extensions\DSLTextTemplatingRegistry_x86.pkgdef</path> </entry>

<entry> <record>42</record> <time>2017/09/13 18:43:07.129</time> <type>Error</type> <source>VisualStudio</source> <description>PkgDef loading aborted</description> <hr>80070005 - E_ACCESSDENIED</hr> <errorinfo></errorinfo> </entry>

<entry> <record>43</record> <time>2017/09/13 18:43:07.129</time> <type>Error</type> <source>VisualStudio</source> <description>Error or timeout while initializing non-volatile pkgdef cache</description> <hr>80070005 - E_ACCESSDENIED</hr> <errorinfo></errorinfo> </entry>

Hello,

would love to provide a solution, but can only report that things did not improve with 15.3.5 i just updated to.

Administrative users don't have an issue, all others do.

I wonder whether a solution is under investigation, since it is not sustainable to start from scratch each time updates are applied. Refraining from updating the application will render it obsolete sooner or later.

Currently this keeps me from getting really "invested" into VisualStudio, as i can't tell whether this will work for me on the long...

Please help!

Thanks in advance.

I've discovered a temporary workaround. It's a little onerous, but it does work. Basically, I temporarily changed my user profile to admin and rebooted. Then, re-ran vs_Community.exe and selected repair; when done, reboot as directed. Then, still temporarily as admin, ran VS2017 to initialize the settings. Every seemed to work. Then, I changed my account type back to standard and rebooted. VS2017 runs normally again.

1. Change user profile to admin and reboot.
2. Run vs_Community.exe and select repair from the dropdown. (This will take a while.)
   1. Reboot after complete.
3. Still as admin, run VS2017.
   1. The settings should be initialized correctly for your account now.
4. Change user profile back to standard and reboot.
5. VS2017 should now run correctly as a standard user.

Edit: I should add that I'm using 15.3.5.

I just updated to 15.4.0 and the problem seems to be fixed.