I get “The type initializer for 'Microsoft.Cct.CctProjectNode' threw an exception.” when opening ccproj files after installing Azure SDK 2.9

Question

I have a solution with an Azure cloud project in it that's targeting the 2.7 version of the Microsoft Azure SDK which I could open/build and deploy without problems. Since Visual Studio was nagging me to update, I went ahead and installed the new Azure SDK version of 2.9. After that update, I cannot open the cloud project files, and Visual Studio (2015 Community edition, now fully updated to the latest as of the time I'm writing this) gives me this error message:

MyTest.ccproj : error : The type initializer for 'Microsoft.Cct.CctProjectNode' threw an exception.

I am able to open the project if I manually edit the ccproj file and change the

<ProductVersion>2.7</ProductVersion>

value to 2.9. However, I can not use that, since other people are working on this project and they still want to remain on the 2.7 version of the Azure SDK, which is also currently deployed to production.

Is there a way to allow Visual Studio to open older versions of cloud projects? Do I have to uninstall the Azure SDK updates?

Thank you all!

Answer 1

There is an issue with the SxS compatibility for 2.9.5 and previous versions. This is very recently discovered and we are looking into a fix for the next version, but until then you will have to uninstall 2.9.

1. Uninstall the “Microsoft Azure tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 – v2.9” from add/remove programs
2. Run msiexec /x {60473BF2-359B-43B3-AF6C-12BAC6C5BC3F}. (For VS 2013, use {438EED24-F35B-44E0-A2E2-675838273002}) This should bring up the msi dialog to uninstall “Microsoft Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Core”
3. In add/remove programs, repair Microsoft Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 – v2.7 (or v2.8 for people using that version).

Updating answer. The most common GUIDs for #2 are :

• {60473BF2-359B-43B3-AF6C-12BAC6C5BC3F}
• {438EED24-F35B-44E0-A2E2-675838273002}

If you get an error "This action is only valid for products that are currently installed." try using {8664E001-704C-4EFB-B68D-6A3DEF60BBEE}.

The MSFT Support forum on this is here

Connect ticket is here