Fixing an Eclipse Workspace That Does Not Open Anymore
Has your Eclipse workspace just stopped loading? In this post, we take a look at how you can correct this issue without having to create a new workspace.
It can happen to everyone using Eclipse: launching Eclipse with a workspace, and then it is stuck loading it. As a last resort, create a new workspace and go on? Possible, but painful, right? For some time, I have this strange issue nagging me. From time to time, I’m not able to switch to a workspace that worked before. The IDE starts loading, but then is stuck:
Eclipse Oxygen Stuck Loading Workspace
The problem happens to me for multiple versions of Eclipse, including Oxygen (4.7). What I have found out is that it is because of some views open in the workspace, and they somehow might block the Eclipse startup. For example, the Processor Expert ‘Component Repository’ view can cause this in Eclipse Neon (4.6) or Oxygen (4.7).
Components Library View in Eclipse
So the usual workaround was to open that workspace with another instance of Eclipse (not having that view), closing that view in the Eclipse Perspective, and then I was able to load that workspace again.
Knowing that this has something to do with the perspectives and views, and thanks to a tip (thank you, Livio!), I have finally found the solution to unblock such a workspace.
Inside the workspace .metadata folder, there is a file named workbench.xmi:
.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.e4.workbench/workbench.xmi.This file stores the perspective window arrangements. So after deleting that file, the IDE windows are reset, and I’m able to load that workspace again.
I hope this tip is useful for everyone having such an occasional problem.
Happy Reloading!
Published at DZone with permission of Erich Styger. See the original article here.
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