Visual Studio ChannelOperationTimeout “while invoking commands in SharePoint host process”

February 12, 2018 by Ehi Kioya Leave a Comment

This article addresses an error associated with “ChannelOperationTimeout” when using Visual Studio to deploy SharePoint WSPs. The error in question looks like this:

Error occurred in deployment step ‘Activate Features’: A timeout has occurred while invoking commands in SharePoint host process.

Or:

Error occurred in deployment step ‘Add Solution’: A timeout has occurred while invoking commands in SharePoint host process.

So far, I have only ever got these error messages when working with C# code for SharePoint in Visual Studio. From my investigation and considering the unique situations when I have been hit with the above error, I can conclude that it is usually caused when…

The server or virtual machine you’re working with is particularly slow or low on resources.
The solution package in question that you’re attempting to deploy is very large so that the deployment time exceeds the default 2 minutes (120 seconds).

Fix it by setting ChannelOperationTimeout

The fix involves adding a key to the local machine registry (this key wouldn’t exist by default).

Using registry editor, go to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\SharePointTools
Or (if you’re working with Visual Studio 2013):
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\SharePointTools

Add ChannelOperationTimeout as a DWORD with a value greater than 120. You may do a little trial and error to decide on the exact value you want to set. Don’t set it too high though, as this may impact performance.

After changing the registry, restart Visual Studio and your WSP should deploy without issues.

The ChannelOperationTimeout property gets or sets the time period within which an operation must complete or an exception is thrown. See here for more information.

About Ehi Kioya

I am a DevOps Architect, Software Engineer, Cloud Admin, Electrical/Electronic Engineer, Independent Consultant, and Technology Blogger... Oh, there's also "K2 and SharePoint Developer" somewhere in that list. Yes, I take pride in being a lot of things.

While I do lots of SharePoint development work, I continue to have a pretty eclectic career focus. So depending on the client, you may find me doing DevOps architecture, process (re-)engineering, continuous integration/delivery/deployment, infrastructure as code (IaC), business process automation, and/or building of highly available, scalable, elastic, and fault tolerant cloud infrastructure. If your goal is to build software that starts small but has the ability to scale quickly while keeping infrastructure costs minimal, we should talk!

As an independent contractor, I'm available and interested in talking to you about helping with your software projects, API and DevOps work, SharePoint deployments, and general web development work. I help organizations and small businesses build custom software and unique process automation solutions. If you're interested in hiring me, please use the contact form on my site.

You can find a lot of samples of my work on this site using the main navigation. Many of my articles occupy the top spot on Google search using relevant keywords. I also get a lot of links to this website from MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network), TechNet, and StackOverflow - my solutions are often referenced as answers by a wide developer audience.

I tend to keep busy, and my work is the type that makes me excited to get out of bed every morning. I would code for free (or for beer) if I had to... I just prefer to do it for money. Mobile, web, and cloud computing is my life! You can also find me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

Let’s connect and discuss your project soon . . .