Visual Studio 2012 "Invalid License Data. Reinstall Required"

Question

I have a newly created Windows 8 virtual machine with VS 2012 Premium running on it, when I try to open any sln file, I get the following modal pop-up error

Visual Studio 2010 shell

Invalid license data. Reinstallation required.

I can open sln if I open VS and then open the project, it is really annoying, any ideas how I fix it?

* Note. I performed a VS repair and did not solve it ... and I never had a VS RC release on a machine, the whole new assembly from s / w, downloaded from MSDN

Greetings

Answer 1

I encountered the same exact error when I created a solution with the full version of Visual Studio 2012 Professional on one computer, and then tried to open the solution file using a copy of Visual Studio 2012 Express on another machine. I got an error when double-clicking the solution file, but not when loading the solution into an already open instance.

I fixed the error by opening the solution file (.sln) with notepad and changing the line in which Visual Studio 2012 indicates Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop .

After that, I was able to double-click to open the solution file on a computer with Express installed.

Answer 2

I am using VS 2013. I fixed this by right-clicking .sln and setting the Open With parameter to visual studio 2013, rather than the VS or VS 2010 VS selector.

Answer 3

I ran into the same problem. When I set the system date and time to the current date and time, the problem resolves on its own.

Answer 4

It seems that the .sln extension belongs to "Visual Studio 2010 Shell" - the minimum version of Visual Studio that ships with products such as SQL Server and Office to support add-in support without any other features. Since this is the minimum version, it cannot load any type of project that comes with Visual Studio Express, Professional, or higher.

The same thing can happen if Visual Studio Express is installed next to the full version of Visual Studio.

This can happen when you install an older version of Office or SQL Server after installing Visual Studio. The old installer will hold the extension.

To fix this problem:

• use the Open With option on Windows and select the Visual Studio Version Selector as the default action.
• Or open the "Default Programs" option on Windows, look at the .sln extension and make sure it uses the "Visual Studio Version Selector" by default:
• Or find Visual Studio 2012 in the Windows Programs and Features window and select Modify, the Visual Studio installer will appear, select Restore to fix file associations and any other problems that may occur when installing Visual Studio Versions in the reverse order (this may, for example, ruin the MsBuild directory).

Remember that when Visual Studio 2010 was released, it still could not know what Visual Studio 2012 would change, so it is best to install versions of Visual Studio in the order in which they were released. This can sometimes be difficult, as other products may install versions of Visual Studio without your knowledge.