visual Studio WPF xaml designer won't show up, even when enabled

Question

So I'm trying to load the XAML designer in visual Studio, and it won't show up, only the source editor shows up

I use the XAML WPF designer to make a lot of decisions, as I'm not on a team and do everything myself with this program including UI design so I tried to turn it back on, so in the settings I tried to turn it on I set it to these settings and restarted visual studio and I still can't open it, can someone please help me load the designer?

thanks

Answer 1

What is below your bottom bar in your screenshot? you should see the Design/XAML tabs to toggle between them, or mouse on the border to drag up the designer/xaml splitter.

Answer 2

I just started having this problem out of the blue -- the problem is the default editor for XAML pages has been changed somehow. To fix it, right-click the XAML file in Solution Explorer and select "Open With...". In the dialog, select "XAML Designer", then click "Set as Default". Click OK. The designer should appear alongside the XML view.