Can't Move Controls With Mouse on Windows Form Designer

Question

I recently installed Visual Studio 2013 Professional, and found that in the Windows Forms Application project type I'm unable to move any controls on a form in design mode. I tested a few alternatives out and found the following:

• Controls can be moved with the keyboard
• Controls can be resized by dragging the keypoints on the outline of the control
• Controls can be aligned using the commands in the Tools menu
• Controls can be moved by setting the Location field manually in the designer property grid
• Controls can be docked
• Controls cannot be moved with the mouse

Furthermore, as you can see in the image below, the "cross" icon that indicates that the controls are movable is not visible on any controls.

I've tried the following, but have not yet been able to correct the issue:

• Created a new project & solution (same issue)
• Created a new form (same issue)
• Verified that the Locked property of both the form and controls is set to False
• Verified that the form inherits from Form (as expected, as this is a standard installation and the first time I've used it)
• Googled for help (nothing that worked)

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Answer 1

It took some time but I finally found a workaround, if not an answer. As it happens, periodically my computer will stop allowing me to drag-and-drop anything. The solution to this is to press the Esc (escape) key, which instantly restores functionality.

Answer 2

I had this happening using multiple monitors. Move VS to the main monitor (1) and all will work fine. Greetz