Role instances are taking longer than expected to start - Is there a new solution to this problem?

I had this same problem, but could eventually get it to start after dismissing 2 or 3 of the

"Role instances are taking longer than expected to start"

message boxes.

I then found that the problem seemed to be that the Diagnostics were enabled and the storage account was set to something invalid in the Role configuration (.cscfg).
Solved it by going into the UI and disabling diagnostics, I found it would run ok.

To get the UI, right click on the created Role inside the Roles folder in the Solution Explorer.

Then I re-enabled Diagnostics and it auto-populated "UseDevelopmentStorage=true", and this seems to work fine.

From what I understand, there are a few different things that can cause this issue.

For me, I encountered this error after I created a Windows Identity Foundation Startup Task for my Azure deployment and then tried to run my application using the Azure Emulator.

Basically, all I needed to do was change the taskType of the Startup Task from simple to background

ServiceDefinition.csdef

<Startup>  <Task commandLine="Startup\IdentityGac.cmd" executionContext="elevated" taskType="background"></Task></Startup>

Based on your question, I'm not sure if this applies to your project, but I figured it would at least be worth mentioning.

You can read my full blog post here.

A new cause for this problem was introduced in Feb 2016.

Using Windows 8.1, Visual Studio 2012 Update 5 and Azure Emulator 2.3

Installing this windows update: KB3126593 will leave you in a situation where the emulator will never start and you'll see this in the Emulator UI.

Uninstalling the update fixes the emulator.

Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Programs and Features > Installed Updates

Security Update for Microsoft Windows (KB3126593), right-click, uninstall.

(Upgrading to Windows 10 also solves the problem.)