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visual Studio WPF xaml designer won't show up, even when enabled

So I'm trying to load the XAML designer in visual Studio, and it won't show up, only the source editor shows up
I use the XAML WPF designer to make a lot of decisions, as I'm not on a team and do everything myself with this program including UI design so I tried to turn it back on, so in the settings I tried to turn it on
I set it to these settings and restarted visual studio and I still can't open it, can someone please help me load the designer?
thanks

What is below your bottom bar in your screenshot? you should see the Design/XAML tabs to toggle between them, or mouse on the border to drag up the designer/xaml splitter.

Visual Studio 2017 xaml designer not available

Using Visual Studio Professional 2017 (Release 15.2 26430.16), when I open a xaml file for a desktop UI that I have developed, I can no longer see the xaml designer (I only see the raw xaml code). This is new behaviour and may be due to me having a system clean-out, so maybe I removed an SDK that I need or something like that?
Are there any Visual Studio error logs I can check for warnings etc?

Frankly, your situation is different than mine. In my situation, it was because of Resharper. Maybe this may useful for someone else.
What to do is checking Resharper Options > Enviroment > Performance Guide > Disable XAML Designer.
It must be set to "Ignore" or "Show in Status Bar". Otherwise, it will always disable XAML Designer.

In the Visual Studio 2017 Installer, I selected all of the SDKs and installed the missing ones. This did not fix the problem by itself, but a subsequent 'repair' from the Visual Studio 2017 Installer (available from the 'hamburger' drop-down) did.
Sometimes, adding or removing SDKs from the Installer toggles the 'Enable XAML Designer' check box under Tools -> Options -> XAML Designer -> General (or perhaps it was the repair step that turned this back on), so ensure that this is checked.

Make sure XAML Designer is enabled.
Tools -> Options -> XAML Designer -> General -> Enable XAML Designer

I couldn't get the designer to work, but I found an alternate solution posted here, posted by #DamianSuess
Use the View > Other Windows > Xamarin.Forms Previewer menu in
Visual Studio to open the preview window. Use the Window > New
Vertical Tab Group menu to position it side-by-side.
forms-not-show-in-visual-studio

I know this issue is tagged as WPF but I had a similar issue for Xamarin Forms.
What solved this issue for me:
Right Click the xaml file
Select "Open With..."
Select Xamarin.Forms Previewer
Click OK
Optionally, you can set the Xamarin.Forms Previewer as the default for xaml files

make sure you have correctly installed the Windows 10 SDK, there are 3-4 versions of the SDK, the error you are talking about can also be a consequence of a incompatible sdk,
also reinstall the sdk related to your app, close every process related to Visual studio running in background while reinstalling the SDK.
Can you share a screenshot of the xaml designer page?

I had the same, I found that opening the XAML in VS community did not work. However, if I choose file -> open -> project/solution and open the corresponding sln file, it works.

Debug XAML in Visual studio 2015. Where is Live Visual Tree and Live Properties

I downloaded the new Visual Studio 2015 CTP6 to test the new XAML debugging features - but I can't find them? I've read that those windows should open right after starting the debugging but they do not appear - anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

Debug –> Windows –> Live Visual Tree | Live Property Explorer
In any case you cannot see them, check options.
See here for more details on Inspect XAML properties while debugging property.

This feature should be accessible in CTP6 in menu via Debug -> Windows -> Live Visual Tree

Had the same problem with VS2017 - which has new 'Live editing' of XAML that instantly is reflected in your running application.
First make sure you actually have XAML under text editor
If it isn't there (and you can't even open a XAML file in designer mode) you have other problems. You may need to repair or reset VS.
Will report back solution if I figure it out.

Windows Phone Toolkit namespace/reference not working

I'm going nuts over this...
I can't add Windows Phone Toolkit to my Windows Phone 8.0 project in Visual Studio 2013.
Nothing works.
Using <toolkit:LongListMultiSelector></toolkit:LongListMultiSelector> on XAML page dishes out:
"The name LongListMultiSelector does not exist in clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Controls;assembly=Microsoft.Phone.C‌​ontrols.Toolkit"
What I did:
Installed Toolkit with NuGet version 2.8.5 (so its over 2.1 as required)
Added "xmlns:toolkit="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Controls;assembly=Microsoft.Phone.C‌​ontrols.Toolkit" to my XAML page
Deleted Visual Studio cache in %Temp%, restarted VS... Nothing.
Microsoft.Phone.Controls.Toolkit is present in project References...
It seems like VS is not even recognizing that reference. Toolkit Controls are not present on a list of Controls that can be added to "Toolbox" sidebar.
I desperately need a list with multi selection in my project, and that Toolkit seems to be the only solution...

Finally I solved it... by accident.
I had some other LongListSelector on the same XAML page, with custom ItemDataTemplateSelector, that caused Visual Studio to act strange.
I deleted that LongListSelector (it worked without a problem, so I don't have a slightest idea what was itchy about it for VS) and toolkit reference started to work.
Strange! And so frustrating...

Design view disabled in Blend + Sketchflow 2012

I have a project that was created in Blend + Sketchflow preview for Visual Studio 2012.
It is a simple project as I am learning C# and WPF for the first time. I have two windows. A simple start screen with a button that shows the other screen. The other screen has 4 buttons which change colors during a random order animation sequence.
My problem is that the design view became disabled. I can not open any XAML in design view anymore or edit any Storyboards etc. The only thing different I could think of is that I added a class file in Visual Studio 2012. After the project refreshed the design view went away and all I can see is the xml version of it.
If anyone can show me the solution I would appreciate it as I have searched google and stackoverflow and no answers have been found. I am new to both the language and VS/Blend so this may be a simple fix, I have no idea. Thanks in advance!

Make sure your project type is not set to 'console' as Blend will refuse to show design view for this type. If the project type is 'window', Blend will display design view just fine.

Also, Blend for VS2013 will not open a solution file if the target .NET Framework version is set to 4.5.2. A reset of the 'Target Framework' to 4.5.1 (or earlier) and Blend works fine.

I managed to solve this thanks to Surfbutler. My problem was I temporarily switched the project (output) type to console in Visual Studio 2012. When I switched it back to Window the design view started working properly again in Blend.