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When you try to generate type library information by using the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.dll assembly in Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, you may encounter one of the following symptoms.

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Symptom 1

When you use the Regasm.exe utility to generate and to register a type library, you may receive the following error message:

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Symptom 2

When you use the TlbExp.exe utility to generate a type library, you may receive the following error message:

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Symptom 3

A Visual Studio 2008 package implements a property collection that is exposed by the EnvDTE.DTE.Properties property. If the collection is a member of an object that uses a type from the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.dll assembly, the common language runtime (CLR) will not construct the necessary in-memory type library for the assembly. For example, the following Visual Studio macro that references the EnvDTE.DTE.Properties property will fail, and then you will receive an error message.

Dim proj As Project = DTE.Solution.Projects.Item(1)   Dim props As Properties = proj.ConfigurationManager.ActiveConfiguration.Properties

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This problem occurs because the ImportedFromTypelib attribute is removed from the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.dll assembly in Visual Studio 2008. The ImportedFromTypelib attribute is removed because this assembly does not have an associated type library. Therefore, the ImportedFromTypelib attribute causes failures when the CLR tries to find an associated type library.

Because the ImportedFromTypelib attribute was removed in Visual Studio 2008, the CLR cannot construct the necessary in-memory type library for the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.dll assembly. This failure is caused by duplicate type GUIDs.

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Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft. However, it is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next Visual Studio 2008 service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Customer Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question. Additionally, you can visit the following Microsoft Web site to download the hotfix:

Prerequisites

You must have Visual Studio 2008 installed to apply this hotfix.

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart the computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace a previously released hotfix.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

File name	File version	File size	Date	Time	Platform
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.dll	7.10.6071.0	259152	07-Jan-2008	15:37	x86

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Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the Applies to section.

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This hotfix marks all the duplicated GUIDs by setting the value of the ComVisible property to false so that the type library generator will ignore the duplicated GUIDs.

For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

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