Datatips (mouse hover over variables in debug mode) not working in Visual Studio 2012 / Win 7 64bit

Question

When I hover my mouse over a variable when debugging a C# app in Visual Studio nothing popups. I expect to see the value of the variable (aka datatips). I\'m running Visual

Answer 1

I had this problem so I deleted all the *.suo and *.user files I could find in the solution directory and that seemed to fix it.

Answer 2

I deleted the project and re-cloned it from git, then it worked. None of the other solutions worked for me.

Answer 3

I have found this solutions:

• reinstall Visual Studio as adivced here, but you have already tried it

• Open your VS->Tools->Import and Export Settings Wizard->Reset all settings->No, just reset settings, overwriting my current settings-> Choose a Default Collection of Settings from MSDN Forum: Debugging - hover watch has stopped working

Updated:

• maybe you have Release build configuration

• set Code Optimization property to Disabled under Project property windows

as adviced in similiar question on SO

Answer 4

Using remote debugging on another machine makes it more challenging.

This thread talks about RPC Server being unavailable when using "Use Managed Compatibility Mode", which makes remote debug impossible with Managed Compatibility Mode

Remote Debugging not working. "Unable to attach to process. The RPC server is not available."

Native compatibility had the same effect.

It was only "Use legacy C# and VB expression evaluators" that allowed hover over variables AND remote debugging in my case.

Answer 5

Ok, I'm not exactly sure why my Visual Studio 2019 v16.8.2 was not showing the data tips popup whenever I hover over the variables when I'm debugging. FYI, I am using a project that was created on another machine with the same version of Visual Studio. I got it fixed by doing the following steps.

1. Load up the project and set it to release build.
2. Visit Tools -> Options -> Use Managed Compatibility Code, set it to enabled. Close the Options menu.
3. Remove any breakpoints in your code.
4. Run the project in Release build mode, instead of Debug mode.
5. Let the program run for 5 seconds and then click red square that STOPS the debugging running program.
6. Open up the Options again and change the 'Use Managed Compatibility Code' back to disabled(uncheck it). Close Options.
7. Add some breakpoints and set the run mode back to 'Debug' mode and click Play to debug the program as per normal usage.

Doing these steps in this order solved the problem for me. I'm not exactly sure which steps solve the problem but somehow in doing the preceding list of things, it's now fixed. A reinstall of VS 2019 didn't help.

UPDATE: After going back to my project and attempting to debug, it appears it's back to not working again. I tried the above steps and that only fixes the problem for the first iteration of the loop I'm working in. It appears when the code is working, then the next iteration through the loop and when it comes to my breakpoints, they are no longer showing the little popup window that allows you to inspect the variable data. So doing the above-mentioned steps only solves the problem for the first time the breakpoints are hit.

P.S. I'm using two instances of Visual Studio 2019 and am recreating one of my older apps so that it is up to date. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the datatip's not showing up when mouse hovers over the variables or not.

Answer 6

I ended up with resetting VS Settings to make this work: