Xamarin iOS simulator issues - The device was not found

23
votes

I am trying to use the Xamarin iOS simulator but it fails on launch with a "The device {guid} was not found".

I have my environment settings like...

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and when I run I see...

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then...

enter image description here

researching the error, the recommendation is to explicitly set the XCode path which I have done, but I get the same error. Also, notice I am connected to our build Mac.

enter image description here

I have a coworker connected to the same Mac with the same computer and VS version I am on, and his iOS simulator works fine. I have uninstalled/reinstalled the simulator and restarted Visual Studio (2017RC).

I appreciate any pointers someone might have!

UPDATE

I reinstalled my Windows 10 OS thinking I had a corrupt install. Unfortunately on a clean machine with 2017RC, the simulator still fails in the same way as I described above.

9
xamarinxamarin.ios
Are you both connecting at the same time? You might only be able to get one simulator instance at a time. – jgoldberger - MSFT
We are not connecting at the same time. – John Livermore

9 Answers

19
votes

In my case: UnCheck Remote Simulator to Windows In my case: UnCheck Remote Simulator to Windows

13
votes

I am facing the same issue from last two days and solved this as well by removing the latest version of XCode 12.5. Download the previous version of code i.e 12.4 from apple site and install Move the downloaded xcode file in application and check on windows It works fine Latest version of XCode 12.5 is not stable

10
votes

I confirm the issue is currently (May 2021) caused by Xcode 12.5 upgrade. After I downgraded back to Xcode 12.4, the simulators started to work again with no problem.

I tried to upgrade Visual Studio for Windows to latest version 16.9.4, did not help. I launched Visual Studio Installer to reinstall Xamarin, did not help either.

Only when I removed Xcode 12.5 (using this shell script https://onexlab-io.medium.com/uninstall-xcode-from-macos-eca1b69dc836) and installed version 12.4 (from XIP archive from here How to download Xcode DMG or XIP file?) it started to work.

7
votes

You may need to uncheck "Remote Simulator to Windows." I just fixed this issue for myself by doing so. However, I was trying to launch on the iOS simulator on my Mac side (running Windows vm via Parallels). It seems you might be trying to launch the simulator in windows.

3
votes

If you need a quick solution, downgrade the version of VS and Xcode, for me this works:

  • VS 2019 - 16.9.3
  • Xcode - 12.4
  • Xamarin.iOS - 14.14.2.5

And for physical devices make sure Hot Restart is not enabled in Tools > Options > Xamarin > iOS settings

2
votes

Just had the same problem after upgrading mac to Big Sur and Xcode 12.5 yesterday. Reboots and deleting obj/bin/.vs folders made no difference. The fix was to explicitly type the Xcode path into Xamarin options iOS settings - even though it was the default - untick Remote Simulator to Windows then pair/connect to mac from that options dialog. After closing the dialog and reopening it Remote Simulator was checked again. I unchecked it, closed the dialog and reopened it to check again - it was closed this time. All works fine now.

I also ran mac VS and let it update in the midst of all this.

1
votes

I have the same issue since yesterday, to resolve that I uninstall the "Xamarin iOS simulator" and now it works...

it may be a solution for your issue!

1
votes

Did you resolved the issue already?

I bumped onto the same issue today. I tried opening Xcode on Mac and it says it need to install additional tools. I let it install and try open/quit Visual Studio for Mac, Xcode, Simulator again (not sure if it is related)

Now to remote simulator works fine again.

0
votes

I had the same issue and i resolved it by realizing that my PC with VS was on a different network than my Mac with Xcode. Once i put both machines on the same network the issue went away. Hope it helps.