Fixing Visual Studio 2011 “Visual Studio Component Model Host Package” Error

Fixing Visual Studio 2011 “Visual Studio Component Model Host Package” Error

When running Visual Studio 2011 Developer Preview under Windows 8, you may run into an error when trying to create a new project that displays the following message:

Package ‘Visual Studio Component Model Host Package’ failed to load

This can occur when using the Developer Preview of Windows 8 that comes packaged with Visual Studio 2011 express. We uninstalled the express edition, and installed the preview of the full VS2011 package. When trying to create a brand new project, the error above was presented.

The Fix:

Reset your installation by deleting the following folders if they exist:

• C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio
• C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\vsexpress
• C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VSCommon
• C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio
• C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\vsexpress
• C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VSCommon

After deleting the folders, restart Visual Studio 2011 Developer Preview. A dialog will appear saying preparing profile/settings and the Local and Roaming folders will be rebuilt.