 <p>You could also use this to check if the Visual Studio Designer is running the code: </p> <pre><code>public static bool DesignMode { get { return (System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().ProcessName == "devenv"); } } </code></pre> <p>Then in Form_Load: </p> <pre><code>if (!DesignMode) { // Run code that breaks in Visual Studio Designer (like trying to get a DB connection) } </code></pre> <p>However, this is less elegant than using the <code>LicensManager.UsageMode</code>, but it works (until Microsoft changes the name of the process Visual Studio runs under). </p>