Develop Reference

"Visual Studio requires a newer version of Windows to display this content."

Getting the error "Visual Studio requires a newer version of Windows to display this content." when using the XAML designer tool in Xamarin. Any ideas on how I'd go about tracking down the source of this? I'm using Windows 10, and Visual Studio 2015.

Update from 14th September 2016
The live preview for Xamarin forms is now available in the stable channel. https://developer.xamarin.com/releases/studio/xamarin.studio_6.1/xamarin.studio_6.1/#Xamarin_Forms_Previewer
Update from 27th April 2016
Xamarin has just announced a live preview for Xamarin.Forms on the Evolve 2016 Keynote. It is included in the alpha channel, and you need to update Xamarin.Forms to 2.3 prerelease.
Original Answer
Xamarin.Forms XAML is not WPF XAML. There is currently no editor for this dialect.
There is not yet a visual designer for generating XAML in Xamarin.Forms applications, so all XAML must be hand-written.
The only way to have a preview is currently Gorilla Player. But the community is requesting it strongly. It's the feature request with the most votes.

I was facing the same problem when I was loading the MainPage.xaml file of my UWP application in my Visual Studio 2019.
I was sure that I have the version 1903 (10.0.18362.0) in my system, so the problem was not that. To fix this error, this is what I did.
Install the version 1809 (10.0.17763.0), to do this, click on the visual studio installer, and select your Visual Studio, and then click on Modify
Click on the Individual Components and then select Windows 10 SDK (10.0.17763.0)
Once the installation is done, open your project in the Visual Studio and then click on your project and then Properties.
Select the Target version 1809 (10.0.17763.0) under Targeting
Now you should be able to see the design view of your xaml file. Hope it helps.

This answer is based on the Title (No Xamarin)
I found this Choose a UWP Version link to be helpful in solving the problem.
Go to:
Project Menu
Project Properties
Change both Target and Min versions to Build 10240
XAML designer is back!

Visual Studio 2015 C# XAML Designer doesn't load

In the new Visual Studio 2015 RC the XAML designer does not bring up a UI for a C# Windows Universal project but it does for a C++ Windows Universal project. This occurs with both the Professional and Community editions. Has any one experience the same problem and have a workaround/solution?

I have the same issue, when I upgraded the Win10 SDK from 10240 to 10586, set the project properties->Application->Target version to Windows 10(10.0;Build 10240),
the design view shows up again.

If the XAML designer is failing to open, check the "Flag" notifications in the top right corner. You might notice a message that your Windows 10 build needs to be updated.
1:
The target platform can't be newer than the Windows 10 build you're actually running.

To help clarify this a bit -
If you are building a Universal Windows 10 application with Visual Studio 2015 running on Windows 8.1 - something that we have enabled for the first time without requiring your to upgrade your OS, you will not be offered the XAML designer option - we will only allow you to edit XAML using the editor and IntelliSense. Similarly, you will not be allowed to test the application locally or using the Simulator (since it is a Windows 10 application and cannot run on your machine). Everything else should work fine, but for the best experience possible, consider upgrading to Windows 10.
If you are building a Windows 8.1 universal application, it should work just like before.

Windows 10 (fresh install + Developer mode)
VS 2015 Update 1 Ultimate
SDK Build 10586
By default no designer being available even via Shift-F7.
This expands the scope of the original problem, its not a VS edition based issue at all. Its a problem with the SDK support.
AS per Wener Henze
Swtich back to Build 10240.
Fixed. Designer now available.
Werners workaround is confirmed and saved me lots of time. I don't have the rep to thank him, or comment on his post directly.

I installed fresh Windows 10 and Visual Studio Community 2015, and the designer failed to load (for MainPage.xaml etc). I had to:
enable developer mode in system settings (update section) as suggested in info dialog
(re)install Visual C++ redistributable for VS 2015
But I don't know which one exactly resolved the problem... Now the designer loads as expected. (I tried only C# universal app yet)

In case if you have installed fresh Windows 10 Build 10240 and downloaded and installed latest Visual Studio 2015, target version 10240 is not available in Project Properties -> Application -> Target version and designer is not working too.
I have got Target version 10240 selection available after I've installed additionally Windows 10 RTM SDK from following page. As discussed above, designer works fine if Target version 10240 is selected.

As an update to the answer of #Ivan because I just had to do with this issue recently.
In my case I only had the option to change the Min Version from 10586 to 10240 but for the Target version I had no other choice than 10586. So solving this issue was not possible.
The solution was to install SDK Version 1506 (Version 10.0.26624.0) which can be found here https://developer.microsoft.com/de-de/windows/downloads/sdk-archive
After a restart of Visual Studio I was able to switch the Target version as well #Ivan mentioned and the XAML designer finally showed up. Heureka!
Thanks for the hint #Ivan.

you have to have the appropriate sdk installed on your machine, you can get it from the official site of Microsoft https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/sdk-archive
before that please remove the old sdk you installed on your pc, so that VS will use the new one.
then it'll work... i fixed mine in this way.

Visual Studio Freezes when I try to Add a file

I have an ASP.NET MVC application that I'm working on in Visual Studio 2013 Premium. I have three projects that are underneath my solution. If I right-click on any of the folders that are immediately under my solution and choose add, the flyout from the context menu displays fine and Visual Studio continues to function normally.
If I right click on any (I've tried a few but not all) folder underneath one particular project in Visual Studio, it freezes for about fifteen minutes. The cpu and memory usage when this is going on seem pretty normal.
If I right click on any of the folders underneath the other two projects and choose Add I get the flyout to appear showing the types of things I can add to the folder and everything works just fine.
What I've tried:
Disabling all Visual Studio Extensions that can be disabled. This didn't fix it.
Starting an instance of Visual Studio in Safe mode, this does fix it.
Any idea what I can try next? I'd hate to have to manually uninstall all of the Visual Studio extensions that can't be disabled, but this seems like the logical next course of action.
As far as Extensions I have:
Application Insights Behaviors SDK (XAML)
Bing Dev. Assistant (Disabled, installed after problem started)
Find in Solution Explorer (Disabled)
Company-created Build Tools (Disabled)
Company-created Core Tools
Company-created Scaffolding Tools (Disabled)
Microsoft Advertising pubCenter
Microsoft Advertising SDK for Win 8.1
Microsoft Advertising SDK for WP 8.1 XAML
Microsoft ASP.NET and Web Tools
Microsoft Visual Studio ASP.NET MVC 5 Scaffolding
Nuget Package Manager
Productivity Power Tools (Disabled)
Release Management for VS 2013
TFS Server Power Tools for VS 2013
TFS Sidekicks (Disabled)
TFS Process Template Editor
TFS Team Collab.
TFS Work Item Type Designer
Unit Test Generator (Disabled)
Visual F#
VS Extensions for Windows Library for JavaScript
WP 8.1 SDK Integration
Workflow Manager Activities
I don't need the WP 8.1 stuff here at work, but dabble with it at home. Since I'm logged into my MSDN account in Visual Studio at both places, would it uninstall it from my home PC if I uninstall it at work?
I'm doing a little further exploration. On the project that has the problem, when I try to do an add to a folder, I'm seeing Nuget.exe get fired off every six seconds over and over again. Where would I look to see where this is set up? I assume in the .csproj file.
Thanks

I disabled and uninstalled a bunch of Visual Studio extensions, which didn't help. I then cleared my nuget cache and that solved my problem.

I had exactly the same problem apparently, in my case it was a reference problem try deleting them one by one until the it starts responding in real time, i suggest starting with 3rd party dlls.

Can't See MVC5 Project Option in VS2012 [duplicate]

I've installed Visual Studio 2013 Premium (MSDN license) on my machine. Yet, the ASP.NET Web Application template is not there (except for Version2012, which offers me MVC 4, see screenshot below):
I have uninstalled and reinstalled VS2013 three times now. I've deleted the ItemTemplatesCache and ProjectTemplatesCache folders along with running the devenv /InstallVSTemplates and devenv /Setup to no avail. I've also checked to make sure web developer tools are installed. Under the \Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplatesCache\CSharp\Web folder, I only see MVC 4 template files. Am I missing something? An extension or additional program?
Below I added a screenshot of the frameworks I have installed. Any direction or advice would be appreciated. Thank you!
Jodie.

I think that "Re-install Visual Studio from scratch" is not a solution.
I have faced with the described problem and found much faster way to fix it:
First of all, try to repair Visual Studio installation (in "Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features" find your Visual Studio, right-click and select "Repair"). Reboot after (!).
Check if template appeared in the Visual Studio. If not, then: in the "Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features" make sure that you have "Microsoft Web Platform Installer 4.x" installed (I have 4.6 version). If not - install it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/web/downloads/platform.aspx
Run "Web Platform Installer" (it should be here: "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft\Web Platform Installer\WebPlatformInstaller.exe")
On the "Products" tab find the line "Microsoft ASP.NET and Web Tools 2013.1 for Visual Studio 2013" (make sure that it is not for 2012!). If line has "Add" button on the right side enabled, then click it and install the tools. Reboot PC (!) and you should have your ASP.NET project template back.
If line says "Installed", then you should repair it via "Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features", just find "Microsoft ASP.NET and Web Tools 2013.1 -Visual Studio 2013", right-click and select "Repair"). Reboot PC (!) and you should have your ASP.NET project template back!
Cheers!

After many hours of troubleshooting, these are the steps I took to fix the issue (on Windows 7 Ultimate). I assumed it was an issue with a corrupt installation and possible problems with registry keys, so I removed any and all Microsoft development tools using the following steps:
FULL VIRUS SCAN (just to make sure this was not related to a virus or malware). I used Microsoft Security Essentials
Downloaded Microsoft FixIt to help clean up registry keys as I deleted programs. After I deleted any program or program updates, I ran this tool to verify a clean uninstall had been done
Visual Studio 2010 - Ran the Visual Studio 2010 Uninstall Utility and removed the program. Went into Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a program > View Installed Updates and searched for 'Visual Studio 2010', then removed any updates associated with VS2010 (and ran the FixIt program after every uninstall to verify the registry keys had been wiped)
Followed this MSDN post to remove Visual Studio 2012 (paying particular attention to the 'Optional Shared Packages' and removed any and all programs under this list, again running Microsoft FixIt to verify the registry keys were wiped)
Followed this blog post from Shawn Harrison to remove all SQL server; also referenced these two MSDN posts Uninstall an Existing Instance of SQL Server (Setup) and SQL Server Files Left After Uninstall
Uninstalled Visual Studio 2013, along with all references to 'Visual Studio 2013' in programs and installed updates; used FixIt to clean up registry keys after every install
Last but not least, I removed all MVC Visual Studio-related tools, references extensions including Web Tools and Web Platform Installer
This solved my problem with missing templates :)
(I'm soooooooo grateful this was all done on an SSD, however, I think it would have taken 5x longer with an old-spinning HD)
Cheers, everyone!

Not the solution in your case, but I had a similar issue where I could not find the MVC templates. Eventually I realized that I still had .NET Framework 3.5 selected, which of course does not provide MVC... switching to .NET Framework 4.5 let me find the MVC templates again.
You already had 4.5 selected in the screenshot, but I'm just posting this here for others who might make the same mistake as I did.

Don't forget to check that "Microsoft Web Developer Tool" was actually enabled during installation see this related stackoverflow question: How do I open a csproj with ProjectTypeGuids 349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21?
"Microsoft Web Developer Tool" that was the problem for me

Have you tried updating the gallery
Tools>Extension and updates> Templates
To get up and running you could click Version 2012 under Web and get to the stock web applications templates which will provide you upto MVC 4
For MVC 5 you can either download Visual Studio 2013 Express Web, it roughly has the same ASP.NET features at Premium on MSDN License.

Update for Studio 2013:
Make sure you install express for Windows and not express for Windows Desktop. The Desktop version does not have the Web templates.

I had a similar issue with VS 2013 Web Express Update 3. After reinstalling stuff all week its fixed. I had to uninstall VS, delete the "Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0" directory, and reinstall VS. There are other workarounds that are more precise.

Console template in Visual studio 2013 not there?

So today I downloaded visual studio 2013 express twice (the download was canceled the first time) And when I opened it, it told me to get a windows 8 licence, and I did... The thing is, when I want to start a new project, the only template available are store app... Here's a screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/7mpUNZn.png
I am aware back in visual studio 2010, there was an option for console application and I wonder where it is... Maybe I am being stupid, but I do need help! I do not want to create windows 8 application :/.
Any help would be great!

You have most likely downloaded VISUAL STUDIO 2013 EXPRESS FOR WINDOWS (STORE).
You need the edition for Windows Desktop, located here. See all links and editions in Scott Hanselman's recent blog post.

AFAIK, the version that you require to create a console application is
"Express 2013 for Windows Desktop"
There are 3 versions of Visual Studio Express.
all three versions are found here:
http://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-express-vs.aspx
"Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 with Update 4 for Windows Desktop" is the current version; one can choose between "install now" and a .iso image.