diff --git a/src/VisualStudio/CSharp/Test/ProjectSystemShim/CSharpHelpers.cs b/src/VisualStudio/CSharp/Test/ProjectSystemShim/CSharpHelpers.cs
index 0b964001315fb488a4118e61eadfdb022ca67628..2935f0f76e18d8988eadccc3b28359df79c1c8b1 100644
--- a/src/VisualStudio/CSharp/Test/ProjectSystemShim/CSharpHelpers.cs
+++ b/src/VisualStudio/CSharp/Test/ProjectSystemShim/CSharpHelpers.cs
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 using System.IO;
 using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis;
 using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp;
+using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Editor.UnitTests.Workspaces;
 using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Host;
 using Microsoft.VisualStudio;
 using Microsoft.VisualStudio.LanguageServices.CSharp.ProjectSystemShim;
@@ -76,6 +77,22 @@ public static CPSProject CreateCSharpCPSProject(TestEnvironment environment, str
             return cpsProject;
         }
 
+        public static CPSProject CreateNonCompilableProject(TestEnvironment environment, string projectName, string projectFilePath)
+        {
+            var hierarchy = environment.CreateHierarchy(projectName, projectFilePath, "");
+
+            return CPSProjectFactory.CreateCPSProject(
+                environment.ProjectTracker,
+                environment.ServiceProvider,
+                hierarchy,
+                projectName,
+                projectFilePath,
+                Guid.NewGuid(),
+                NoCompilationConstants.LanguageName,
+                commandLineParserService: null,
+                binOutputPath: null);
+        }
+
         private static string GetOutputPathFromArguments(string[] commandLineArguments)
         {
             const string outPrefix = "/out:";
diff --git a/src/VisualStudio/CSharp/Test/ProjectSystemShim/LegacyProject/CSharpReferencesTests.cs b/src/VisualStudio/CSharp/Test/ProjectSystemShim/LegacyProject/CSharpReferencesTests.cs
index 6ffcf7b6352aae05923a7323f9429a4d330e81c0..cc43b8a469a5f26bd89618291ce16c92347471fd 100644
--- a/src/VisualStudio/CSharp/Test/ProjectSystemShim/LegacyProject/CSharpReferencesTests.cs
+++ b/src/VisualStudio/CSharp/Test/ProjectSystemShim/LegacyProject/CSharpReferencesTests.cs
@@ -135,5 +135,29 @@ public void AddingProjectReferenceAndUpdateReferenceBinPath()
                 project1.Disconnect();
             }
         }
+
+
+        [WorkItem(461967, "https://devdiv.visualstudio.com/DevDiv/_workitems/edit/461967")]
+        [WpfFact()]
+        [Trait(Traits.Feature, Traits.Features.ProjectSystemShims)]
+        public void AddingMetadataReferenceToProjectThatCannotCompileInTheIdeKeepsMetadataReference()
+        {
+            using (var environment = new TestEnvironment())
+            {
+                var project1 = CreateCSharpProject(environment, "project1");
+                environment.ProjectTracker.UpdateProjectBinPath(project1, null, @"c:\project1.dll");
+
+                var project2 = CreateNonCompilableProject(environment, "project2", @"C:\project2.fsproj");
+                environment.ProjectTracker.UpdateProjectBinPath(project2, null, @"c:\project2.dll");
+
+                project1.OnImportAdded(@"c:\project2.dll", "project2");
+
+                // We shoudl not have converted that to a project reference, because we would have no way to produce the compilation
+                Assert.Empty(project1.GetCurrentProjectReferences());
+
+                project2.Disconnect();
+                project1.Disconnect();
+            }
+        }
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/VisualStudio/Core/Def/Implementation/ProjectSystem/AbstractProject.cs b/src/VisualStudio/Core/Def/Implementation/ProjectSystem/AbstractProject.cs
index f279a9a93bf3147e7e104753b2d57b3582dd80bf..9787f7c1f2b840315af8a0aea17d107bed319c48 100644
--- a/src/VisualStudio/Core/Def/Implementation/ProjectSystem/AbstractProject.cs
+++ b/src/VisualStudio/Core/Def/Implementation/ProjectSystem/AbstractProject.cs
@@ -794,6 +794,17 @@ protected bool CanAddProjectReference(ProjectReference projectReference)
             var project = this.ProjectTracker.GetProject(projectReference.ProjectId);
             if (project != null)
             {
+                // We won't allow project-to-project references if this one supports compilation and the other one doesn't.
+                // This causes problems because if we then try to create a compilation, we'll fail even though it would have worked with
+                // a metadata reference. If neither supports compilation, we'll let the reference go through on the assumption the
+                // language (TypeScript/F#, etc.) is doing that intentionally.
+                if (this.Language != project.Language && 
+                    this.ProjectTracker.WorkspaceServices.GetLanguageServices(this.Language).GetService<ICompilationFactoryService>() != null &&
+                    this.ProjectTracker.WorkspaceServices.GetLanguageServices(project.Language).GetService<ICompilationFactoryService>() == null)
+                {
+                    return false;
+                }
+
                 // cannot add a reference to a project that references us (it would make a cycle)
                 return !project.TransitivelyReferences(this.Id);
             }