I know that quite a few people are running into an issue where any edition Visual Studio 2008 can crash when users open the find dialog if they are running on Windows XP 64-bit or Windows 2003 Server.  There's a patch available for Microsoft Support.  You can track the status of that fix here: http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=311712

I've heard from quite a few people that aren't happy about contact support and I wanted to explain the rationale behind it.  When we ship products at Microsoft we literally spend thousands of hours of human and computer time running manual and automated tests on the final versions of our product to ensure their quality.  When we create patches for a particular issue, we can't expose the patch to the same rigorous testing so there is a chance that this will cause a regression somewhere else.  To minimize that risk, we have customers call support to ensure that they are indeed experiencing the exact issue and give them the patch free of charge.  If there's ever an issue with the patch, support is able to contact all affected customers.  Typically, these patches are integrated into the next service pack or version of the product at which point they are exposed to the more rigorous testing. 

I've also heard from a few others that there have been challenges getting the patch from support. If have a few tips for getting this patch from support to help make things smoother:

  • This is a good link to start from to get support: http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?&c1=501&gprid=12913 
  • My standard tip for dealing with anyone in a customer support roll is to first get the name and some sort of reference number of the incident.  This will always enable you to have some continuity if you ever get disconnected or need to call back. 
  • The patch is only labelled for Windows 2003 but it actually works for Windows XP (64 bit of course). I'm working with CSS to get that fixed.
  • If the support rep tells you that it is no longer available, please get the SRX Number and the name of the CSS rep and contact me via the blog link so that I can track down the problem.

Thanks!

Sean Laberee

Program Manager - VS Platform