General: Missing web controls in toolbox – fixed!

Today I had a real “WTF” moment! Since I reformatted my laptop and installed Vista and Visual Studio 2008, I have been unable to install any web controls. That is, I had no problems with the installation, but the controls never showed up in the toolbox. After a couple of weeks I finally found the source of the problem: My mouse. My freakin’ mouse!!

It turns out that there was a driver problem with some of Microsoft’s wireless products that interfered with Visual Studio. Missing toolbox items was one of the problems, unstable intellisense was another. Unplugging the mouse fixed everything just like magic…

According to this knowledge base article, the fix has been available for over a year, but it sits quietly and anonymously in the optional update list, waiting for someone to understand what the hell it fixes. The name of the update that saved the day (week, year, you choose…) is: “Microsoft HID Non-User Input Data Filter”

I owe a huge THANK YOU to the guys at Developer Express. Thanks Vito!