Help! My console windows won't go away
Many of you may be seeing an issue where your console windows won't close after you stop debugging. The symptoms of this issue include:
· The console application does not terminate as expected after you stop debugging
· The console windows can be moved, minimized and maximized, but cannot be closed
· The corresponding process does not appear in task manager
· You are unable to properly shut down or restart Windows
We have recently seen this issue impacting many Visual Studio users. The bug that is causing this issue is in csrss, which manages console windows for the Win32 subsystem (among many other things). The bug was introduced by a recent security update to Windows, KB978037.
The Windows team is currently working on a fix for this, and we will post it here as soon as it is ready. Unfortunately, we don’t yet have any timelines that we can share at this time, but we will share any information we can as we get it.
As we would like to like to make sure that Microsoft is able to test this fix as thoroughly as possible, please feel free to share your scenarios below (even if they do not include the use of Visual Studio). Which version of Windows are you using (and what architecture)? Besides stop debugging, can you provide details of other scenarios in which you are running into this same problem?
Comments
Anonymous
March 14, 2010
I encounter this issue if the application is unable to find a dll on startup, so never get as far as main() Visual Studio 2008 9.0.30729.1 SP XP Pro x64, trying to debug an x64 C++ applicationAnonymous
March 15, 2010
Same symptoms as reported by countless developers in countless forums: debugging console window would not go away after "Stop Debugging" is pushed. Our login sessions are littered with zombie consoles. Logging out is impossible: we have to ask someone else with administrative privileges to log us out via the Task Manager. Visual Studio 2005 8.0.50727.762 (SP.050727-7600) with all service packs and security updates as of two weeks ago. Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, 5.2.3790 SP2 Build 3790Anonymous
March 17, 2010
Greetings: you have described all the symptoms in your post. The key to reproducing the bug is stop the process being debugged from the IDE, using "Debug --> Stop Debugging" command. Closing the process being debugged, ending the process from task manager, or letting the application exit normally does not reproduce the bug (or at least does not result in the above symptoms being shown). I imagine a diff of the relevant parts of the OS code that accounts for KB978037 changes should pin-point where / how the problem occurs. But a bigger question to ask is how can a window that's visible on desktop, in the taskbar and in the "applications" list not have a corresponding process in the process table? Perhaps the root cause is elsewhere, and this update has simply uncovered one or more bugs elsewhere in the OS. If you want better scenarios, perhaps you can share better tools with users to help you pin-point the problem. If it would be helpful, I am willing to provide diagnostics from any of the public tools (e.g., MS Sysinternals) on csrss.exe or any other processes.Anonymous
March 17, 2010
User_12345: It can happen because the csrss process acts as a console window server and provides the window for the console process. Clearly, csrss is getting 'lost' when the debugger clobbers the console process, and the corresponding window isn't closed.Anonymous
March 25, 2010
I have the same issue - whenever I hit Shift-F5 to stop a C++ console debugging session inside Visual Studio 2008, the console/debug window becomes a zombie. I am using Visual Studio 2008 on a Dell Precision WorkStation T3400 with XP Pro SP3. Its been happening ever since about mid-February and it is extremely annoying. I'm assuming that the same KB978037 update that seems to have broken this is at fault in my installation as well. I am going to turn off Automatic Updates and see if there is a way I can remove KB978037 to see if that fixes the problem. The only way to recover the zombies is to hit the POWER BUTTON on the PC. You can't even logoff or restart or shutdown from within Windows once this problem occurs. This seriously erodes my productivity. Interestingly enough, cut-and-paste still work in the zombie window via the Edit/Markfunction, but "Properties" won't open. Very strange. Not sure if that has any bearing or not. Also, so far, only using Shift-F5 from within Visual Studio's debugging session seems to cause the problem. If instead I exit the program on my own (my console utility closes itself if you hit ESCape), then it seems to be fine. I haven't seen it fail with a zombie window when doing it that way (yet?).Anonymous
March 25, 2010
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March 25, 2010
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March 26, 2010
Just to put a human face on just how this effects people: I work for a Big Company, and IT pushes security patches at us automatically via SMS. Strictly speaking I am not allowed to remove the patch and if I did corporate policy would be to fire me. Microsoft REALLY needs to get t his fixed, and soon.Anonymous
April 01, 2010
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April 05, 2010
Me and a couple of my colleagues have experienced the same problem with vs2005/winxp sp3 with win32 console apps. Even though debugging session is ended with Shift+F5 console window doesn’t get closed. It doesn’t hang in the sense the window can be moved resized and text can be copy pasted from it. In Task Manager application is present but process is not. On choosing application -> go to process, it is not found. End Task of application doesn’t work. Soft reboot gets halted because OS can not find handle to the process. This can be closed only by hard reboot.Anonymous
April 06, 2010
Please help. Each time I stop debugging in the middle, I need to hard reset my computer. This is not a way to work. Yesterday I succeeded to continue debugging, without stopping. Each restart might take me 10 minutes to goes up. Any workaround? patch for meanwhile? Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Version 9.0.30729.1 SP Microsoft .NET Framework Version 3.5 SP1Anonymous
April 06, 2010
Un-installing KB978037 fixed this infuriating mess for me. I've been monitoring the original post here: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/vsdebug/thread/e6d4a4f5-7002-401a-90e1-6174d7f9e3ca and this one, and since Brad Sullivan setup this blog on 11th March I have seen NO further comments from Microsoft on this. Has anyone seen any news from MS on when this mess is going to be cleaned up? What a way to support your development community!Anonymous
April 08, 2010
Because of this issue, three developers in our department where all independently bug fixing their latest code, believing that it was their local code that caused this, before discovering that it was an MS introduced bug. Because of company policy we do not have the option to uninstall the KB978037 update. On basis of the numerous threads relating to this issue we are certainly not alone and I would not dare to imagine the total number of man-hours wasted on debugging and restarting. Therefore I find it odd and a bit arrogant that a bug of this magnitude is not prioritized higher by MS. The first reports of this bug go back to early February and in two days this (officially acknowledged bug by MS) thread celebrates one month anniversary without any feeds from MS, even though it was promised that “we will share any information we can as we get it”! Finally it could be argued that the threat/damage the important update (KB978037) resolved is somewhat less vital than the potential damage of data caused by repeated hard-reboots / BSODs.Anonymous
April 12, 2010
Thanks for the WA, but I can't uninstall Windows security update due to Visual studio bug. I will continue to work without stopping the debugger, and each time I will forget and stop the debugger in the middle by mistake, I will reboot my machine, until a fix will be available.Anonymous
April 14, 2010
It looks like the problem has been fixed; After I installed the latest updates (2010-04-14) I can stop debugging and the console window goes away.Anonymous
April 14, 2010
Sorry, I spoke too soon. On my second machine, there's no difference. This may also be due to me running a different development branch of my software on the other machine.Anonymous
April 14, 2010
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April 15, 2010
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April 20, 2010
It happends to me when I start debugging and stop the program at certain breakpoint position. After that I start program again (F5) without stopping debugged one.Anonymous
April 28, 2010
I use VS2005 with XP SP3. I have all the annoying features of the zombie consoles when I stop the debugger. My colleague uses VS2008 with the same OS. He said that he uninstalled and reinstalled VS2008, and was able to get rid of the problem. The same approach with VS2005 did not work for me though.Anonymous
May 05, 2010
Brad - Is there any update on this issue?Anonymous
May 11, 2010
I use VS2008 (version 9.0.30729.1 SP) with .NET framework version 3.5 SP1, and in particular Visual C++. This happens quite a lot when i "restart debugging", or when I stop debugging by closing VS or recompiling; it seems to happen less often if i click "stop debugging" first. Please fix this, it's very very annoying. You know about it for 2 months now!Anonymous
May 11, 2010
ETA to Fix? Do you have a clue what the problem is or how to fix it? or do you rather recommend everyone switch back to DOS?Anonymous
May 11, 2010
Come on people. Did you REALLY expect speediness/professionalism/competence/courtesy/respect from Microsoft?Anonymous
May 12, 2010
Yes. While we wait for this fix, does anyone have suggestions on to improve the Bubble Sort inside Microsoft's File Delete functionality? Time is money and I think my money is wasted waiting.Anonymous
May 12, 2010
Encountered this issue this week after running windows updates. As mentioned several times above, it also happens to me every time I forget and click on stop debugging instead of clicking on the X in the console window or detaching from the process. Another thing that happened today which might be related is that I had a debug assert window pop up due to calling isspace() with a non-printable character (0xBB). Once that window popped up, I could no-longer use the mouse. I also had 12 console orphans open due to my inability to break the habit of clicking on debug->stop debugging. A hard re-boot was required. I'm now going to attempt to unwind the KB978037 patch. I have similar install to other posts (XP pro, VS 9.x).Anonymous
May 24, 2010
I managed code by C++ makefile project, when debugging, just F5 and the service will be started automatically according to debugging options(exe, workding dir), but when stop debugging, the window still there with the symptoms exactly the same. hope it will be fixed soon.Anonymous
May 25, 2010
It bothers me for a long time,please fix it asap.Anonymous
May 25, 2010
developers are not a priorityAnonymous
May 25, 2010
Maybe one should remind Monkeyboy of his "Developers, Developers, Developers" performance and how this fits together with not providing a working development environment...Anonymous
May 26, 2010
No - the problem is not fixed. I manually removed KB978037 and reapplied it and then ran an update again. Bug reappears. Using vstudio 2008... This is getting on my nerves.... will there ever be a fix for this? I've searched blogs and whatnot and ppl are getting really upset about this.Anonymous
May 26, 2010
I hope there will be a fix soon. The whole development-team complains about this bug in my company. The Problem is also that you cannot shutdown your system and you have to press the power off button. Nice if you have a raid-system.Anonymous
May 27, 2010
Me and 3 other colleagues are affected by this issue aswell, we all use Windows XP (SP3) and Visual Studio 2005/2008. I am really dissappointed about the fact that microsoft doesnt seem to deem this issue important enough to release a fix in time, nor telling us developers when a fix will be available at last.Anonymous
May 27, 2010
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May 27, 2010
Same Thing here Windows XP + VS 2008 ends up in annoying console windows never dying... Plus I'm a corporate user, no way to roll back the update.Anonymous
May 30, 2010
This is very annoying. fix this bug!Anonymous
May 31, 2010
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May 31, 2010
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June 01, 2010
Same problem here. Terribly annoying! Debugging C++ in Visual Studio 2008 on Windows XP SP2.Anonymous
June 02, 2010
Was there an official word from Microsoft on this? Has this been officially fixed?Anonymous
June 02, 2010
video.google.com/videoplayAnonymous
June 03, 2010
What's worse, I must hard power-down my machine after this orphaned window occurs. VS2005. WinXP SP3 Professional, 32-bit arch.Anonymous
June 03, 2010
I mapped shift-f5 to DetachAll and also leave a breakpoint set on the return from main. So far so good, no zombie consoles. Sometimes when I am done debugging a window pops up asking if I want to debug or close, I just click close, and it does.Anonymous
June 06, 2010
Does anybody from MS read this or is this topic completely forgotten?Anonymous
June 06, 2010
Seems like this blog is archived (if the URL is any hint). Anyone knows if there is an "official" bugtracker where ju can post bug reports and, ideally, see the progress? Almost all open source projects have that feature - perhaps not this bigshot supercompany. They're so bloated with internal quality reports and meetings so that no one really has time to deal with anything, let alone keep the users happy.Anonymous
June 07, 2010
Please fix this bug!!! Where are you brads????Anonymous
June 07, 2010
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June 08, 2010
Please fix this. I lost my O/S after I was forced perform a hard power-down. I eventually restored the O/S after losing nearly a day. Like others, the zombie console windows were left after I performed a "Stop Debugging". My console app is multi-threaded, if that makes any difference. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Version 9.0.30729.1 SP (+ 20 hotfixes) Windows XP Professional 5.1.2600 SP3Anonymous
June 08, 2010
BTW, "Control Panel > Add Remove Programs" says KB978037 "...cannot be removed". Is it advisable to manually run the uninstall from "C:WINDOWS$NtUninstallKB978037$spuninst"?Anonymous
June 08, 2010
I have the same issue. Per suggestion in other blogs, I tried uninstalling KB978037 but it did not eliminate the problem. Here is my configuration: System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Version 5.1.2600 SP3 Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Version 10.0.30319.1 RTMRel Microsoft .NET Framework Version 4.0.30319 RTMRel Installed Version: VC Express Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 01013-169-2610014-70984 Microsoft Visual C++ 2010Anonymous
June 08, 2010
C'mon be a serious company and FIX THIS BUG. Or do you perhaps want me to move to Windows 7 sooner? Hah.Anonymous
June 09, 2010
You cannot close a console window of an application after you stop debugging the application in Visual Studio on a computer that is running Windows XP: support.microsoft.com/.../982551Anonymous
June 09, 2010
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June 09, 2010
Halleluja, The HotFix from support.microsoft.com/.../KBHotfix.aspx actually works. The only question is why no one from MS has bothered to throw a link in this forum which was actually initiated by MS – Especially when the HotFix file is from the 18th of May?!?Anonymous
June 10, 2010
The KB was just published yesterday. The hotfix may be dated May, but it takes time to get it tested and published.Anonymous
June 10, 2010
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June 12, 2010
The fix seems to be only for the enu-Version of the OS. There are some other languages around in the world !Anonymous
June 14, 2010
There is a HotFix for this issue now : support.microsoft.com/.../982551Anonymous
June 14, 2010
I am very sorry to say that this Hotfix does not do the JOB!!! MS Please get your act together and fix this alreadyAnonymous
June 15, 2010
Is there any love for XP SP2 users?Anonymous
June 15, 2010
If you start to see this, I highly recommend you use sync.exe from Sysinternals/Microsoft to flush your drive caches before you do the hard reset. technet.microsoft.com/.../bb897438.aspxAnonymous
June 17, 2010
Susan: I fully recognize that a new fix must be tested before official release and you have a fair point that the link must be present before it can be posted ;-). My main regret still stands though: There has been absolutely NO progress info about the fix development. I think that it would have calmed down a lot of frustrated developers (myself included) if they had had the info that a hotfix was in the pipeline as “early” as at least the 18th of May. This, in my opinion, is not in compliance with the quote stated in the header: “we will share any information we can as we get it”Anonymous
June 19, 2010
It would have been nice if the progress and availability of this hotfix had been announced somewhere. Perhaps on a blog dedicated to the Visual Studio Debugger, as a follow up to a post that originally described the issue and promised to provide us with any updates.Anonymous
June 19, 2010
Michael Soliman. soliman.de Moin Moin. I did install all updates yesterday and the problem does prevail in any(!!!) project using the boost library(I guess it is being named TR1 in msvc.). _Tschuess, __Michael.Anonymous
June 23, 2010
FIXED: support.microsoft.com/.../en-usAnonymous
June 23, 2010
Seems to be 32 bit only. Can't find 64 bit patch.Anonymous
June 23, 2010
It's XP only, doesn't install on Windows Server 2003 (Enterprise Edition SP2, x86 32 Bit, DEU).Anonymous
June 25, 2010
I thought it was because of some unreleased class at the first place. But even after I totally taken care of all the structures or classes appropriately, this symptom still shows up. BTW, in my PC, when this happens, you can't input any word onto the console window.Anonymous
June 27, 2010
Are there any plans for release patch for Windows Server 2003?Anonymous
July 01, 2010
I'm seeing the issue with Visual C++ 6 on 64-bit Windows 7 (yes, I know it sounds odd). Any plans to fix this combination?Anonymous
July 02, 2010
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July 06, 2010
We run Windows XP 64 bit SP2. My group ran into this back in April and have been patiently waiting a fix as well. For now we are avoiding shift-f5 and close the window via the close button, wait patiently for seven seconds, then click "End now". I havn't seen another post from brads since he started the trhead on March 11th. Are we just talking to each other, or does Microsoft monitor this forum? Looking forward to a fix...Anonymous
July 07, 2010
I have the same problem. The debugger does not close the command window when I hit stop debugging. It does not happen all the time. Do not know when it will happen. I am using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 version 8.0.50727.762 (SP.050727-7600). OS is Windows XP Professional version 2002 SP3.Anonymous
July 14, 2010
Wow, here it is July 14th and still no fix... My system is still suffering from this one and unfortunately I don't always remember to close the window manually in a fast-paced iterative debug session. If it isn't something that is going to be fixed please just tell us so we won't hold on to any false hope! "Hello, hello, is there anybody out there?" S.Anonymous
July 15, 2010
From my own observations and looking at the sample code others have posted to reproduce this problem, it seems that this only occurs when a file is still open at the time the debugger is halted. It seems like the stream is being held open in a separate thread, possibly as a result of a mutex deadlock during cleanup. Also, it is interesting that the zombied window shows up as a Task, but not as a Process. In my ignorant opinion, this seems to imply that the cleanup routine has not finished when the owning process terminates. Granted, that should be impossible, but window zombies with no owning process should also be impossible. I have never seen this occur when running a batch file, so I have no observations to add concerning that problem.Anonymous
July 26, 2010
Nothing new to add. I've got the same problem as everyone else, with no solution in sight. XP64, VS2005. Often fails when I hit exceptions within windows calls, since I have break-on-exceptions turned on. Fixes for 64bit OSs?Anonymous
August 02, 2010
The following hotfix seems to address the problem (for me at least) for x86 machines: support.microsoft.com/.../982551Anonymous
August 06, 2010
@Pat: Thank you for the link. The hotfix fixed the problem for me. Thanks a ton. I am using XP Professional with SP3, AMD Athlon Dual-Core QL-60.Anonymous
August 14, 2010
I found that in my case, I can select "Detach All" instead of "Stop Debugging" and that will release the console window, which I can CTRL-C out of which won't leave a zombie. This may be because I have multiple threads and/or console output.Anonymous
August 19, 2010
Need this hotfix for windows 7 64 bit as well.Anonymous
August 23, 2010
The hotfix at support.microsoft.com/.../982551 now includes a fix for windows server 2003 SP2 (x86, ia64 and x64)Anonymous
August 24, 2010
Have you tried killing the 'vshost' file from the task manager or turning off hosting for the projectAnonymous
August 30, 2010
Ok, it's August 31st, I'm on XP pro 32bits SP2, VS 2005, i've installed the fix: support.microsoft.com/.../en-us , and still got the same issue... :Anonymous
August 30, 2010
I have installed the hotfix and first it looked OK, but when i changed some code and try to rebuild the program ends with a problem and needs to be closed. But i didn't restart my pc. Now i did and it looks to be working fine.Anonymous
September 02, 2010
I haven't seen anything posted on here since someone reported that the problem was fixed. I'm still having the problem and am running SP3, so I guess the fix was not wrapped up in SP3. kb978037 is wrapped up into SP3 so I don't have the option of uninstalling it. Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of just pulling in all of Microsoft's updates to fix the problem.Anonymous
September 02, 2010
Retract that comment. What I needed to see was on another page of replies. Thanks for all the good information.Anonymous
September 02, 2010
Does the hotfix exist for XP 64bit? I could only find for Server 2003 x64, which won't install itself onto XP. I hope I just overlooked it. Thanks to everyone out there who shared information about this issue.Anonymous
September 07, 2010
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September 26, 2010
I've installed the hotfix of 982551 and restarted my pc, but the same problem still exists. Besides, it occurs randomly. I'm using WinXP SP2 Have u completely solved the problem pls??Anonymous
October 25, 2010
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November 16, 2010
I have Windows XP 64 and still nothing I can do. I conjure Steve Ballmer: Please, we all are developers, developers, developers, developers. Why oh why don't you help us?!Anonymous
November 22, 2010
I have all the latest updates but the problem still occurs.Anonymous
November 23, 2010
Like many others I have this issue. A workaround is to hide the console window or minimize it to the system tray: the freeware app www.thewonderfulicon.com has functionality to do both of these (plus a heck of a lot more useful stuff might I add) which removes the need to restart the machine. Before anyone asks, I am not the developer of the app and I am not trying to "plug publicity" for it: it is simply a work around for this issue. HTHAnonymous
December 23, 2010
So strange website of www.thewonderfulicon.com , I even can not find a download button. There are only a donate button. Are they running in the mode of "Pay before play" ?Anonymous
December 23, 2010
It's at the top, under the main logo, in light grey text. Given, a little hard to see, but here is the link anyway: www.thewonderfulicon.com/download.html :)Anonymous
January 17, 2011
Have the same issue as corporate user so I'm not able to uninstall any security updates to fix this issue at least temporary. System * Windows XP Professional SP3, 32Bit * Visual Studio 9.0.30729.1 SPAnonymous
January 17, 2011
Have the same issue as corporate user so I'm not able to uninstall any security updates to fix this issue at least temporary. System * Windows XP Professional SP3, 32Bit * Visual Studio 9.0.30729.1 SP Application when starting a gloox xmpp client instanceAnonymous
January 20, 2011
It seems that we'll never get rid of this problem.Anonymous
January 23, 2011
I'm being bitten by this bug too. Haven't yet tried the patch, but I'm wondering if there isn't a possibility to grab the window's handle somehow and then destroy it through the appropriate call?Anonymous
January 26, 2011
I'm a corporate user using a virtual machine and it takes days to get my machine rebooted because I always have to reassure our service desk several times that its OK to reboot even though I'm not logged out. Frustrating! I've read masses of forums on this topic and the comments to this blog seem to indicate that there is a hotfix that solves the problem. Several posts link to support.microsoft.com/.../982551. Would it be possible for the author of this blog to state once and for all that the problem is fixed, or at least, under what circumstances this hotfix fixes the problem?Anonymous
May 05, 2011
Hi guys, As a solution, it has been suggested to uninstall KB978037 I searched for it and my machine found this file: KB978037.cat (date modified 14/12/2009) Do you actually mean removing this file, by goig to its directory and deleting it??? Thanks,Anonymous
July 11, 2011
Just experienced this issue on Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (updated) via Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. Application window belongs to a process that does not exist. Application window will not close yet the user can interact with it.Anonymous
November 03, 2011
This is still a problem in Visual Studio 2010 and Windows 7 stackoverflow.com/.../visual-studio-cannot-build-a-simple-project-more-than-onceAnonymous
November 09, 2011
Is there a solution to this problem for Windows 7 ?Anonymous
April 12, 2012
The same situation... It seems to me that problem occurs in case when we allocating some portion of memory at debugging and after that stop debug process (I mean memory isn't free). So, logically to assume that debugger doesn't clear memory at this case....Anonymous
December 23, 2012
Hi, this bug just started for me today. I'm using windows Vista. Program had previously been running fine. I can close the program with the cross on the window, but it should close by itself. Please explain how to fix.Anonymous
July 24, 2013
Windows 7 x64. Apache console window is not closed at shutdown sometimes. The same sympthoms - no process, cannot close window by clicking at X, but window still alive - can be resized etc.Anonymous
August 14, 2013
3 years passed, this bug still exist in Windows 7 x64 and visual studio 2012.Anonymous
September 09, 2013
The same issue is in Windows 7 x64 and visual studio 2012.Anonymous
November 13, 2013
Windows 7 x64 Visual Studio 6.0 Sp6 - this bug presentAnonymous
November 27, 2013
It might be the problem in the OS itself- not just Visual Studio. Windows 8 64bit Both Code::Blocks and Dev C++Anonymous
November 29, 2013
Env: Win7 x64 VS2010. Everytime I fix this problem by the steps below. First, close vc. Second, in console, press any key like 'a'/'b'/'c' and press ENTER key, sometimes I select IME and input Chinese words. Then, the console thread seems to return to message loop and exits. I guess, it could be waiting a keyboard interrupt.Anonymous
October 12, 2014
Hey, I experienced with this issue on Windows 7 x64 + VS2008 SP1. No KB978037 installed, when I start to debug the console application, it just hangs. Microsoft still has no fix for this bug?Anonymous
March 24, 2015
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