Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 does not Load: The “Application Cannot Start” and Raster Font Errors

I was working at home the other night with a freshly installed copy of Visual 2010 Beta 2. I closed the IDE for a moment, and when I tried to reopen it, I got an error that read: “The application cannot start.” I found I could start the IDE by using the Jump Lists in Windows 7 to start a specific application rather than simply opening the IDE without loading a project. After getting back inside the development environment, I rummaged about for a bit and finally fixed the problem, probably by resetting my profile (Tools | Import Export Settings). That may or may not work for you, but these two excellent and authoritative posts are more likely to solve your problem if you encounter a similar error:

• How to fix the “Application Cannot Start” Error
• Work around for the Raster Font Settings Issue (“Object reference not set to an instance of an object.”)

Figure 1: There is no joy in Mudville, Visual Studio 2010, Beta 2 will not start!

I was having an excellent time working inside VS 2010 Beta 2, so I was frustrated to hit this glitch. I don’t want you to wander into the same troubled climes, so I’m posting here this good information from two experts on the VS IDE. By the way, these issues are all fixed in our new internal builds, and those fixes will be part of the final release of Visual Studio 2010.