Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

Whenever I debug an ASP.NET page in VS2008 (no matter how simple the page is), it hangs for at least 90 seconds. The "build started > build succeeded" bit only takes three or four seconds...then it hangs for what seems like an eternity. Periodically, "Loading symbols xxxxxxxxxxx" will flash at the bottom, and finally after about 90 seconds, it'll hit the Page_Load event.

Any idea as to what's going on?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

Have you tried to apply the fix mentioned on: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/02/08/vs-2008-web-development-hot-fix-roll-up-available.aspx

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

Thanks for the quick response. You're responding faster than VS is debugging [;)]

I did try the hotfix - it fixed some other problems I was having (slow performance in the designer and code windows, etc.), but it didn't stop the debug issues. I just timed it twice - it's over two minutes between the time that VS says "build succeeded" and the Page_Load event. The build and the Page_Load events only take about 4 seconds each respectively.

Any other ideas?

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the response. The dialog under Tools > Options > Debugging > Symbols is empty. Any other ideas?

Would you like me to send any details to the address you mentioned above? I'm happy to do anything to contribute to a resolution.

Thanks again.

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

We have this problem as well. Using asp.net 2.0 with vb.net on VS 2008, win xp. Our project is taking a minute to start the debugger and get going. It's worse on another one of our projects. After the browser loads, it just sits there waiting for it to finish loading the symbols as seen in the Output window. The project compiles within about 10 seconds but takes a minute to start up after that. Productivity has gone south.

I have tried most things I can find on other blogs for solutions but no luck. The Tools-Options-Debugger-Symbols settings is empty so it doesn't point to a bad path. Should be okay there. There isn't an environment variable _NT_SYMBOL_PATH so okay there.

Turned on Debugger Exceptions but nothing seems to be slowing it down on startup.

It appears that it just takes forever to load symbols. Tried to use the Microsoft symbol server to create a local symbol cache but it prompted me for the location of a couple of things and the blog wasn't much help there.

If I don't make any code changes, it starts up pretty fast. A one line code change causes it revert back to molasses. If I create a brank new web site project, it starts up the debugger pretty fast.

Has anybody come up with a solution to this?

I see that VS 2008 SP1 might be available next week (8/11/08) per the MSDN subscriptions home page. Hopefully that will help.

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

I had the same problem and made all of the adjustments as mentioned in this forum but it didn't help. I began to suspect that the slow loading time of the dlls had to do with security settings. It appears that access to the dlls goes through security checking that is part of the operating system and not part of VIsual Studio. The dlls are located in a directory for your application under:

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\

In order to speed up the security checking, you need to remove all of the security settings on the root folder of your application in the above mentioned directory, or on the directory "Temporary ASP.NET Files" if you want to have it apply to all web applications you develop.

You right mouse click the folder and select Properties -> Security

Remove all users and groups. Some will not be allowed to be removed because they inherit their permissions from their parent folder. You must first remove the inheritance by clicking on the Advanced button and then uncheck the "Inherit from parent..." checkbox. Then remove the user or group. There must not be any users or groups where the checkboxes for their permissions are greyed out. If they are greyed out, it means that you didn't remove the inheritance from their parent.

After you have removed all users and groups from the folder, you then need to add the following users and groups:

Administrators
Users
ASPNET
Network
Network Service
Local Service

Give each of these accounts full permission. Click on the Advanced button again and check off the "Replace permission entries on all child objects..."

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

Thank you so much for your reply. I have applied your changes but no luck. We are still at a 30 second start up time minimum. it builds in about 2 seconds and then takes 25 seconds to load all the symbols and get going. The slowest symbols to load are from this folder:

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root

We have installed .Net 35 SP1 and VS 2008 SP1.

We turned off our anti-virus to make sure it wasn't slowing things down. No help.

Our project is not that big but we are using user controls. Watching the output window, it loads files from the GAC fast but is slow on the above Temporary ASP.Net\root folder.

Anyway, if anybody else has any ideas, please let me know. I'm assuming we should be able to start up faster than 30 seconds the build only takes 2-3 seconds.

Thanks.

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

The problem eventually came back. I did find another solution that appears to have removed the problem. The environment variable NT_SYMBOL_PATH needs to be removed. Even if you've downloaded and cached the symbols from Microsoft's website, this environment variable should be completely removed altogether. I believe that the name of the environment variable might even have an underscore preceeding it, so just check for anything like _NT_SYMBOL_PATH and delete it. After I deleted this and rebooted VS, the problem disappeared with the slow loading of assemblies.

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

THanks. I don't have that variable so good to go there. We have a case opened with Microsoft. Will post the results soon.

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

Elijah R
The environment variable NT_SYMBOL_PATH needs to be removed

Not in my experience.

However a slow link, and a third party dll without local symbols will cause delays. But the best route is to switch off the automatic downloading of symbols inside VS (the environment variable is also used by other tools which will suffer for its loss). Tools | Options | Debugging | Symbols.and checking the "search the above locations only when ..." option.

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

Have many Gb of RAM do you run with?

My laptop runs VS2008 fast with 2Gb of RAM and my desktop runs VS2008 very fast with 3.8 Gb of RAM.

I suggest you you check your Virtual memory settings. Do you have a fixed size extent for the page file (minimum value = maximum value)?

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

Thanks for the replies. I have 2gb of Ram with Dual core processor.

I have been working with MS on this case. One suggestion they had that got me down to 25 seconds was:

In web.config, set the batch attribute in the compilation tag to false. Example below.

I'll let you know if they come up with anything else.

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

VS2008 SP1 did it for me - not sure if you've tried that or not. Brought the builds down to 5 seconds or so.

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

After working with MS Support, three things helped.

1) set batch="false" in the compilation tag of the web.config file. Set it back to true when releasing to production. This knocked off a few seconds.

<system.web>

2) We had some projects that were vb classes and our data access layer DLLs underneath the web application project. We moved those outside of the web app project. Then updated went to the web application project properties page, and on the References page, pointed to these projects using Project tab in the Add References dialog.

3) Optionally, changing it to use IIS instead of the cassini application server sped it up a couple more seconds. However, you can't do edit and continue with this. You change this setting on the Web page of the web application properties page.

After doing all of that, we can make a code change and start up in 12 to 15 seconds. That's the best we could get it.

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

Tatworth,

This absolutely nothing to do with PC performance. Thanks for your input but please do not damage this thread. It's been a huge headache for us to have this message go through and get Microsoft to help or fix this problem. It's one of the worst problems ASP.NET/Visual Studio developers face every single day. This problem really harms our productivity.

Thanks

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

In my case, the fix above (on the web.config compilation element) did not help. I have a page that has a big number of user controls. This is what takes a couple of minutes each time I do a code change and try to debug:

'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'M_1789df76_4b1f_4822_93d1_b228b0e8d9ec'
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_msgboxuc.ascx.6bb32623.rnw21_je.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_searchorganizationuc.ascx.6bb32623.yhgnwqi1.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_navigation.master.cdcab7d2.hwtipfs7.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_searchcontract.ascx.5a4dd027.8uadhjlb.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_contractciproduct.ascx.5a4dd027.zknbdmut.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_contracteventlist.ascx.5a4dd027.flmqjphk.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_contractlocale.ascx.5a4dd027._quubfok.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_contractretailer.ascx.5a4dd027.w5rpftx_.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_contractsalestab.ascx.5a4dd027._fes67ej.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_contractevent.ascx.5a4dd027.pmnl1bnd.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_contact.ascx.5a4dd027.dfkxd2hu.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_contractmfrtab.ascx.5a4dd027.oi883vsj.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_contractlegaltab.ascx.5a4dd027.52-krbgr.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_contractfintab.ascx.5a4dd027.rcy894rl.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_searchcategory.ascx.bb99d8ca.yhw9kqoe.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_contractopstab.ascx.5a4dd027.xw-cyuqg.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_contractmfr.ascx.5a4dd027.lnurchjh.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_contract.ascx.5a4dd027.pvvuohqw.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Web_contract.aspx.adf53a76.26kaybg9.dll', Symbols loaded.
'WebDev.WebServer.EXE' (Managed): Loaded 'C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\10256aec\9d1e1872\App_Theme_ThemeDefault.xfrphm-4.dll', Symbols loaded.

Because I changed web.config to not batch compilation I can now see the details of all the user controls as they are each compiled or linked. I don't know why this takes so long (2 to 3 minutes to debug each time!). I am not changing the code in any of these user controls. But if I change code anywhere in the application or in any of the class libraries the long delay will happen the next time I debug. It's a nightmare.

David

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

>Thanks for your input but please do not damage this thread

How can it damage the thread?

I have Visual Studio 2008 on two machines with 4Gb of RAM, and VS opens very fast.

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

David

Do you ever clear out your C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files directory?

Re: Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET Builds VERY Slow

why would that be necesarry?