Can't Move Controls With Mouse on Windows Form Designer

It took some time but I finally found a workaround, if not an answer. As it happens, periodically my computer will stop allowing me to drag-and-drop anything. The solution to this is to press the Esc (escape) key, which instantly restores functionality.

I had this happening using multiple monitors. Move VS to the main monitor (1) and all will work fine. Greetz

I know this is an older thread, but this problem still persists. I am putting this here because I think some of these may work for others. The top option works for me, but is by no means a permanent solution. It helps to get your project completed though. Design your forms on your main screen then move VS to your secondary monitor to code kinda thing. I work off a laptop, so I don't like working on a small screen.

Some steps are rudimentary, but I was trying to be thorough. Sometimes it's the simple solution.

Preliminary troubleshooting...

• Moving VS to main monitor(1) - this worked for me, but still doesn't allow me to use my 2 monitors
• Run installer, select Repair
• Run and cancel your project
• Press the Esc button and see if things return to normal
• Right click form "Lock Controls". This should not have the blue outline, or right click on form/control>Lock Controls and make sure nothing is locked.
• Rebuild project, close and open the form again.
• Snap to grid setting - Tools>Options>Windows Form Designer>General
• Restart VS with 100% scaling - drawing may be an issue. I am not convinced it is not here since it works on the main screen but not the 2nd or 3rd
• Dock property set to none for form/controls
• Moving items very slowly with mouse - another indication drawing may be an issue.
• Controls may not be docked in the container in which they reside. Restart VS. Try double clicking on the control, then move. I think this is indicative of creating the control outside a container(say, on a form), dragging it into another container(say, a tabControl) and then it not moving within that tabControl. Additionally, try creating new controls within their intended container and then trying to move them.
• Close VS, delete C:\Users\user.name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\15.0_xxxxxxxxx folder
• Mouse driver - some software may cause issues here.
• Absolute positioning - Tools>Options>Web Form Designer>CSS Styling>Change position...
• Right click any item under toolbox and select "reset toolbox"

Requires Reboot...

• Close VS. Delete some config files with current dates (devenv.exe.config, toolbox.tbd, toolbox_reset.tbd, toolboxindex.tbd, toolboxindex_reset.tbd) and reboot the PC. These are found in a directory like C:\Users\tdevy97\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\15.0_18c2eb4a where the last folder(15.0_18c2eb4a) is some random name. Reboot. Restart VS.

• Corrupt toolbox? Close Visual Studio, Open the “c:\Users\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0” folder and remove all the .TBD files, Start regedit, Find the “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\ToolboxControlsInstaller_AssemblyFoldersExCache” and “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\ToolboxControlsInstallerCache” keys, Remove everything from these keys leaving them empty, before you removing it, (back up your registry first), Reboot, Run Visual Studio again and wait until it recreates all items in the toolbox.

Last resorts...

• Open command prompt as admin, navigate to your "IDE" directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE) and run the following commands...

  • devenv.exe /resetskippkgs, it will clear all SkipLoading tags that have been added to VSPackages by users who want to avoid loading problem VSPackages.
  • devenv.exe /resetsettings, it will restore Visual Studio default settings. Optionally resets the settings to the specified .vssettings file.
  • devenv.exe /resetuserdata, it will take a couple of minutes to run as Visual Studio cleans up and sets itself back to its original state. You may open Task Manager at this point to check whether the devenv.exe process is still running. After it has completed running, you can restart Visual Studio.

• devenv.exe /uninstall /force - complete uninstall. Reboot. Reinstall. Rock on!