TestStand Crashes Immediately After Opening

Issue Details

• When I open TestStand 2020, the application freezes. How can I resolve this?
• When I try to launch TestStand, it closes immediately after I log in. Sometimes I see the following error:

• TestStand crashes at launch. This happens when using the TestStand Version Selector or if I try to open the application shortcut. I see the following error: 

   

Solution

Installing the SP1 version of a given year of TestStand updates the TestStand Runtime to the SP1 version. This can cause conflicts when working with the non-SP1 version of TestStand.

Follow the relevant sections below to resolve this issue.
 

Using non-SP1 Version of TestStand:

1. Uninstall all TestStand packages of the version year you're working with.
   • This includes the TestStand Development System and Runtime for both 20XX and 20XX SP1.
2. Then install the non-SP1 version.
   • This will reinstall the correct non-SP1 version of the TestStand Development System, Sequence Editor, and Runtime.

 

Using the SP1 Version of TestStand:

1. Install the 20XX SP1 version for either 32-bit and 64-bit.
   • Upgrading to the SP1 version should update any TestStand Development Systems and Runtimes to SP1.

Additional Information

To further verify that the crash is related to version differences between the TestStand Sequence Editor and Runtime, you can use Fusion Logs. Fusion Logs can be enabled in one of two ways.
 

1. Registry Keys

Add the following registry keys.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Fusion
Add:
DWORD ForceLog set value to 1
DWORD LogFailures set value to 1
DWORD LogResourceBinds set value to 1
DWORD EnableLog set value to 1
String LogPath set value to folder for logs (e.g. C:\FusionLog\)

Make sure to include the backslash after the folder name and check that the folder exists. You will need to restart the program that you're running to read the new registry settings.

 
With either of these methods, a .htm document should be created when the computer sees a bind failure. Check these logs for the TSDotNetSupport.dll being called by a newer version.

An excerpt of a fusion log showing the bind between TestStand Sequence Editor 2016 and TestStand Runtime 2016 SP1 is included below. In summary, the log says "We looked for the 2016 version of the DLL but found a newer 2016 SP1 version."

LOG: This bind starts in default load context.
LOG: No application configuration file found.
LOG: Using host configuration file: 
LOG: Using machine configuration file from C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\config\machine.config.
LOG: Post-policy reference: TSDotNetSupport, Version=16.0.0.185, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=ad9244eb3b825cd8
LOG: GAC Lookup was unsuccessful.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Program Files (x86)/National Instruments/TestStand 2016/Bin/TSDotNetSupport.DLL.
LOG: Assembly download was successful. Attempting setup of file: C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\TestStand 2016\Bin\TSDotNetSupport.dll
LOG: Entering run-from-source setup phase.
LOG: Assembly Name is: TSDotNetSupport, Version=16.1.0.52, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=ad9244eb3b825cd8