Troubleshooting IntelliSense in C++ Projects
Updated: July 2010
IntelliSense can stop working under certain conditions. Use the following steps to help determine why IntelliSense does not work for C++ projects.
To investigate IntelliSense failure in C++ projects
Make sure that the Visual C++ project contains no compilation errors.
If the project is a Makefile project, see How to: Enable IntelliSense for Makefile Projects.
Make sure that stdafx.h is on the include path. For more information about include paths in Visual C++ projects, see #include Directive (C/C++) and /I (Additional Include Directories).
IntelliSense does not work in C++ projects under the following circumstances:
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The cursor is in a code comment.
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You are writing a string literal.
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A syntax error appears over the cursor.
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The solution consists of either the syntax for managed C++, or the earlier Managed Extensions for C++ syntax.
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IntelliSense is not fully supported when you reference a header file multiple times by using the #include directive, and the meaning of that header file changes because of various macro states that are defined through the #define directive. In other words, when you include a header file several times and the header usage changes under different macro states, IntelliSense does not always work.