Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone not showing correct Design View

Question

For some reason Visual Studio is showing me this weird, ugly skeleton design view when I try building Mango apps instead of the regular fully detailed view I used to get with the old 7.0 apps.

Any idea what setting I need to change to revert back to the old view? I've spent forever searching for the right option but can't find it anywhere.

Here's what my design view currently looks like:

Thanks, Zain

Answer 1

I had the same problems few weeks ago. Normally an uninstallation would not really help. I guess you also have installed the Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1. So to solve your problem, uninstall all of your Visual Studio and Windows Phone Related Products, normally these are:

• Visual Studio 2010 (or Express)
• Visual Sudio 2010 SP1
• Microsoft XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh

After uninstallation install all products in the following order:

1) Visual Studio 2010 (or Express)
2) Microsoft XNA Game Studio 4.0 Refresh

and after (1) and (2) install and apply the Visual Studio 2010 - Service Pack 1.

Thre problem is, that if you install the SP1 before the Game Studio, there are some missing links and files which are not patched and this leads to the missfunctionality of the Windows Phone Designer.

I hope, i was able to help you :)