Why does NuGet fail to load in Visual Studio 2012 after updating to VS Update 3?

Question

After updating to Visual Studio 2012 Update 3 (I was previously running Update 2), NuGet fails to load. By that I mean the Package Manager no longer shows up after I have loaded a solution that uses NuGet and used to work. * It does not show up under the Tools Menu. * NuGet (Manage NuGet Packages) does not show up in the menu after right click on the solution * NuGet (Manage NuGet Packages) does not show up in the menu after right click on the project

The Extensions and Updates dialog (TOOLS/Extensions and Updates...) does show the NuGet Package Manager as installed and when I click on it it shows that it can be uninstalled.

Also when I checked the installation log after uninstalling and then re-installing the NuGet Package Manager (from the download I got on the CodePlex nuget site) it shows that it was successfully installed:

 /10/2013 11:39:05 AM - Beginning to install extension to Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2012...
7/10/2013 11:39:05 AM - Install to Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2012 completed successfully. The extension has been installed to C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\MICROSOFT VISUAL STUDIO 11.0\\COMMON7\IDE\EXTENSIONS\VYALGTD2.XZS\

I checked and this folder does in fact exist and contains NuGet dlls.

When I go to the TOOLS/Options... dialog and select Package Manager the right hand pane shows the text: "An error occurred loading this property page". The same text is shown when Package Manager is expanded and either General or Package Sources are selected.

I have uninstalled and re-installed NuGet numerous times and I have installed both from the downloaded VSIX and directly in the Extensions and Updates dialog and the result is always the same.

I have installed an older version of NuGet and I get the same results. I have uninstalled Visual Studio and re-installed it and I get the same results with version 1, Update 2, or Update 3.

The Activity.log.xml file shows the following issue when attempting to load NuGet:

<entry>
  <record>211</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:44.295</time>
  <type>Information</type>
      <source>Microsoft.VisualStudio.CommonIDE.ExtensibilityHosting.VsShellComponentModelHost</source>
<description>Successfully loaded component assembly from cache</description>
<path>C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\MICROSOFT VISUAL STUDIO 11.0\COMMON7\IDE\EXTENSIONS\VYALGTD2.XZS\NuGet.VisualStudio.dll</path>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>212</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:44.295</time>
  <type>Information</type>
  <source>Microsoft.VisualStudio.CommonIDE.ExtensibilityHosting.VsShellComponentModelHost</source>
  <description>Successfully loaded component assembly from cache</description>
  <path>C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\MICROSOFT VISUAL STUDIO 11.0\COMMON7\IDE\EXTENSIONS\VYALGTD2.XZS\NuGet.Console.dll</path>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>213</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:44.295</time>
  <type>Information</type>
  <source>Microsoft.VisualStudio.CommonIDE.ExtensibilityHosting.VsShellComponentModelHost</source>
  <description>Successfully loaded component assembly from cache</description>
  <path>C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\MICROSOFT VISUAL STUDIO 11.0\COMMON7\IDE\EXTENSIONS\VYALGTD2.XZS\NuGetConsole.Host.PowerShellProvider.dll</path>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>214</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:44.298</time>
  <type>Information</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>End package load [Visual Studio Component Model Host Package]</description>
  <guid>{49D12072-378B-4FFA-A09E-40E0B5D097CC}</guid>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>215</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:44.383</time>
  <type>Information</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>End package load [Microsoft.VisualStudio.Editor.Implementation.EditorPackage]</description>
  <guid>{E269B994-EF71-4CE0-8BCD-581C217372E8}</guid>
</entry>

This part looks OK. But then there are the following warnings and errors:

<entry>
  <record>234</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:57.070</time>
  <type>Warning</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>Performance warning: String load failed. Pkg:{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} LANG:0409 ID:1003&#x000D;&#x000A;</description>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>235</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:57.072</time>
  <type>Warning</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>Performance warning: String load failed. Pkg:{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} LANG:0409 ID:1004&#x000D;&#x000A;</description>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>236</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:57.073</time>
  <type>Warning</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>Performance warning: String load failed. Pkg:{5FB7364D-2E8C-44A4-95EB-2A382E30FEC7} (EditorExtensionsPackage) LANG:0409 ID:101&#x000D;&#x000A;</description>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>237</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:57.073</time>
  <type>Warning</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>Performance warning: String load failed. Pkg:{5FB7364D-2E8C-44A4-95EB-2A382E30FEC7} (EditorExtensionsPackage) LANG:0409 ID:106&#x000D;&#x000A;</description>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>238</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:57.073</time>
  <type>Warning</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>Performance warning: String load failed. Pkg:{5FB7364D-2E8C-44A4-95EB-2A382E30FEC7} (EditorExtensionsPackage) LANG:0409 ID:102&#x000D;&#x000A;</description>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>239</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:57.073</time>
  <type>Warning</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>Performance warning: String load failed. Pkg:{5FB7364D-2E8C-44A4-95EB-2A382E30FEC7} (EditorExtensionsPackage) LANG:0409 ID:101&#x000D;&#x000A;</description>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>240</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:57.074</time>
  <type>Warning</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>Performance warning: String load failed. Pkg:{5FB7364D-2E8C-44A4-95EB-2A382E30FEC7} (EditorExtensionsPackage) LANG:0409 ID:107&#x000D;&#x000A;</description>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>241</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:57.074</time>
  <type>Warning</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>Performance warning: String load failed. Pkg:{5FB7364D-2E8C-44A4-95EB-2A382E30FEC7} (EditorExtensionsPackage) LANG:0409 ID:103&#x000D;&#x000A;</description>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>242</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:57.074</time>
  <type>Warning</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>Performance warning: String load failed. Pkg:{5FB7364D-2E8C-44A4-95EB-2A382E30FEC7} (EditorExtensionsPackage) LANG:0409 ID:105&#x000D;&#x000A;</description>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>243</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:39:57.074</time>
  <type>Warning</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>Performance warning: String load failed. Pkg:{5FB7364D-2E8C-44A4-95EB-2A382E30FEC7} (EditorExtensionsPackage) LANG:0409 ID:104&#x000D;&#x000A;</description>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>244</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:40:00.908</time>
  <type>Information</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>Entering function CVsPackageInfo::HrInstantiatePackage</description>
  <guid>{5FCC8577-4FEB-4D04-AD72-D6C629B083CC}</guid>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>245</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:40:00.908</time>
  <type>Information</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>Begin package load [NuGet.Tools.NuGetPackage, NuGet.Tools, Version=2.6.40627.9000, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a]</description>
  <guid>{5FCC8577-4FEB-4D04-AD72-D6C629B083CC}</guid>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>246</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:40:00.915</time>
  <type>Error</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>CreateInstance failed for package [NuGet.Tools.NuGetPackage, NuGet.Tools, Version=2.6.40627.9000, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a]</description>
  <guid>{5FCC8577-4FEB-4D04-AD72-D6C629B083CC}</guid>
  <hr>80070002</hr>
  <errorinfo>Could not load file or assembly 'NuGet.Tools, Version=2.6.40627.9000, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.</errorinfo>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>247</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:40:00.915</time>
  <type>Error</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>End package load [NuGet.Tools.NuGetPackage, NuGet.Tools, Version=2.6.40627.9000, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a]</description>
  <guid>{5FCC8577-4FEB-4D04-AD72-D6C629B083CC}</guid>
  <hr>80004005 - E_FAIL</hr>
  <errorinfo>Could not load file or assembly 'NuGet.Tools, Version=2.6.40627.9000, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.</errorinfo>
</entry>
<entry>
  <record>248</record>
  <time>2013/07/10 17:40:00.915</time>
  <type>Warning</type>
  <source>VisualStudio</source>
  <description>Package failed to load; error message suppressed by skip flag</description>
  <guid>{5FCC8577-4FEB-4D04-AD72-D6C629B083CC}</guid>
</entry>
<entry>

With the main clue being in record 246 -- Could not load file or assembly 'NuGet.Tools, Version=2.6.40627.9000, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

The question is why can't the system find the file or what dependency is missing. MSDN Tech support was helping me, but then decided that this was a problem they would not support and that I should post the issue here.

Answer 1

Take a look at this link to coops007 has a great solution for NuGet problem.

here are the steps to solve the issue, which worked for @Catherine:

1. Download the Nuget vsix package from the web, not via the VS extension gallery in VS2012.
2. Ensure VS2012 is fully closed.
3. Run the VSIX installer twice (both at the same time!) The first will install, and the second says it is already installed. It is the second installer that actually finshes the job.

Note, if you run the installer just once, the errors inside VS2012 remain. Also, if you rerun the installer again, the errors remain. You have to run the installer twice simultaneously