In Windows Explorer when I double-click on any Visual Studio file (*.cs, *.csproj, etc.), it's opening an old version of VS instead of the latest one (VS 2017). And VS has associations with too many file types.
How can I change the default Visual Studio (for all those files that VS can handle)?
There is a similar old question about Visual Studio 2008 (Move file associations from Visual Studio 2005 to 2008) but the solution in there doesn't work anymore (there is no "Restore File Associations" button on the settings of Visual Studio 2017).
Each version of Visual Studio registers itself in the Set Default Programs panel of the Control Panel.
Go to Control Panel\Programs\Default Programs
Then choose Set Default Programs:
In there you can simply choose the Visual studio version of your choice and then click the button Set this program as default in order to associate every file type that VS handles.
Or you might prefer to click the button Choose defaults for this program to review the current associations of those file types and change only the ones you want.
Yet another in a long list of previously working-just-fine things which Microsoft have managed totally #$#%# up. If I try to change defaults the 'right' way I get this kind of thing:
i.e. completely ignored. The only way I've managed to solve it is by removing the file association entirely through the registry. Let's take .asm as an example:
Open Registry Editor / "regedit.exe"
Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.asm\OpenWithProgIds
Delete any Visual Studio values you see
From there, you can (finally) open files with whatever you choose instead of having the association clamped to Visual Studio:
For the record, I believe this to be a problem with Windows 10. Not with Visual Studio. See: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-files/cant-change-default-programs-in-windows-10/229fc3a9-25c9-433b-a333-5806bc5090db
On the file you will always open with vs17, click right and choose open with and there choose another app. On win10 it pop out a dialog with some proposals. If vs17 is there, choose your favorite and activate the always open with. then ok and your done.
Related
My toolbox is empty.
Obviously, I'm not the first. I read this question and this other question, but that didn't help.
I click here...
I get this window...
With instructions that say: "...Drag an item onto this text, to add it to the toolbox..."
Sounds good; from where do I get such items to drag?
The toolbox is empty because there is no project loaded.
The toolbox is populated with tools/controls according to the type of the current project. The controls are different for MFC than they are for ASP.NET, for example. If you haven't loaded any project, Visual Studio can't populate the toolbox.
Either open an existing project, or go to File -> New Project to create a new one.
Have you tried right-clicking on it and selecting the "Reset Toolbox" option? You can also try to manually add specific tools to it by using the "Choose Items..." option.
A common suggest is also to go into the Visual Studio 2010 Directory and delete all of the .tbd files within the following directory (Related) :
C:\Documents and Settings\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0"
Although if neither of these options work, you will really want to consider possibly reinstalling / repairing Visual Studio.
Is your project running? I noticed that my toolbox is empty when I am debugging the project. Try stopping debugging.
I have encountered a strange error. I use Windows 7 x64. Visual Studio 2010 (VS10) and Visual Studio 2008 (VS08) are both installed. Now i want to make sure that when i doubleclick open a .vcproj file it is being opened by VS8 and not VS10. Now this seems like a trivial problem, but:
"righclick -> open with -> choose default program -> select devenv.exe of VS08 -> always open with" doesnt work. In fact after browsing for devenv.exe of VS08 it does not show up in the list/menue where it is supposed to be displayed.
This is very strange and annoying, maybe someone already encountered this error and know a solution.
I GOT IT! For the Express versions at least. I strongly suspect these instructions can be modified to apply to the full version. The names will change of course.
I spent a lot more time on this than I will ever save by being able to click through to the correct IDE, but darn it, I just hate to give up.
Here's the deal. Strangely, the associations seem to be keyed to the program file names. (Say, what?? That sure is the way it looks to me.) Both VC++ Express 2008 and 2010 are named VCExpress.exe. We'll give the 2008 version an alias. We'll also use a doppelganger to pull off something of a ruse.
Navigate to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE". Make a copy of VCExpress.exe, (not a shortcut), and re-name it VCExpress-2008.exe. (It would probably do just to re-name the original and use the new name in step 3.)
Open regedit.exe. Create a new key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\VSExpress-2008.exe
Edit the (default) value in that key, to hold the string "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\VCExpress.exe" [sic]
Go through the drill with the file-association dialog again. Right-click, open with, choose default program, yada, yada, yada. Browse your way down to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE and click on VSExpress-2008.exe.
VCExpress-2008 now shows up as a program in good standing, with its icon proudly displayed on the front page above the fold. (Don't tell the dialog, but you and I know it really points to VCExpress.exe, not the copy we made.) Click it.
Celebrate.
Ok i finally found a way. You can use the application "default programs editor" to mess with the standard file associations.
My installation of VS 2010 does not appear to be saving settings in the Environment section (Recent files, show status bar checkbox, etc). Other settings do save properly, though (Auto Recover, etc).
Any ideas?
My Environment:
Windows XP
Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate, Team Explorer, TFS2010 Power Tools
Visual Studio 2008 and 2005 installed as well
Works on my XP laptop. The one difference between the two that I can think of is that I added the VS Theme extension on the workstation that I am having an issue on. Don't know if that fouled anything up in the registry.
When I modify the settings (like the number of items shown in Window menu input), the settings are not saved to the registry (HKEY_CURRENT_USER/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/VisualStudio/10.0/General/WindowMenuItemCount)
The fact that it's not saved to the registry would seem to indicate a larger problem than just VS. I would recommend using a tool like Process Monitor to see if it's attempting to write to the registry. Add a filter for devenv.exe and search for the registry key you're looking for. In this case, immediately after clicking okay after you set the number of "Recent Files - items shown in Window menu" in Tools->Options->Environment->General, you should see a write (Success) in the registry under that key (WindowMenuItemCount).
My website has several nested folders and sometimes long file names, so sometimes only 4 tabs can be opened at a time.
Can vs2010 be made to show only file names and leave out any path information?
Can the max displayed length for tabs be set?
I know the window can be split so top and bottom both have their own tabs.
For example (using the "Visual Studio 2010 Pro Power Tools"):
Showing the files:
...r.aspx.cs
...s.aspx.cs
...s.aspx.cs
...s.aspx.cs
...s.aspx.cs
For example (not using the Visual Studio 2010 Pro Power Tools):
Showing the files:
Adminstration/...quests.aspx.cs
Adminstration/...tUsers.aspx.cs
Adminstration/...ctions.aspx.cs
Adminstration/...eBanks.aspx.cs
Try installing the "Visual Studio 2010 Pro Power Tools" extension from the Extension Manager in VS. It adds a new section to the standard option dialogue that allows you to customise what they call the "Document Tab Well."
It doesn't let you truncate the filename, but you can change the way they draw and scroll, which might be enough to help.
It does allow more tabs at a time, but it severly shortens the amount of file name you see. So while it allows editing more files, you won't know what file you are editing.
For now I'm using the trial version of Tab Studio
In VS2010, go to Tools - Extension Manager. Go to the online gallery and search for this extension:
Visual Studio 2010 Pro Power Tools
This extension, once installed, gives you extensive control over the document well, including setting a max tab width and much more. I love this extension, and have had zero issues customizing tab behavior to suit my preferences. Hope this helps.
Fixed in Visual Studio 2012
This has finally been fixed in Visual Studio 2012:
So i see:
PendingRequests.aspx (rather than ...r.aspx.cs)
ImportUsers.aspx.cs (rather than ...s.aspx.cs)
SearchTransactions.aspx.cs (rather than ...ctions.aspx.cs)
ImportTimeBanks.aspx.cs (rather than eBanks.aspx.cs)
Now if we could just get the entire Visual Studio ecosystem to:
return to the use of Left, Right arrows to navigate overflow tabs
open new tabs on the right
just like Windows has been doing in 1994, and Visual Studio would start to almost become a user-friendly Windows application.
I have been using this excellent extension for VS2010 that solve your problems: Visual Studio 2010 Pro Power Tools.
It is a bundle of several extensions, but the most notable for you is the Document Well 2010 Plus. It allows you to configure the document tabs: to be the constant width, colour-coded by project, pinned, etc...
You can toggle the extensions that you do not want by editing the manifest file in:
~\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Extensions\Microsoft\Visual Studio 2010 Pro Power Tools\
#IanBoyd: I agree, it doesn't solve the problem 100% however it helps (which is why most of the answers to this question suggest it). With the Visual Studio 2010 Pro Power Tools add-on you can a) set the maximum tab width using one tab options, b) setup some colour categorizing rules to help differentiate between projects/file types.
In VS2010, my workflow relies upon several add-ons and keyboard shortcuts to manage my workspace; for example I use CTRL + Tab to switch between active documents, use the pin-tab feature and colour coding from Power Pro Tools, the open solution file dialog from Visual Assist X, and re-open last edited file from Resharper.
This has been answered already here:
Remove path from tab name in Visual Studio 2010
Install the productivity power tools extension and it should do it by default!
Cheers.
I want to clear the list of projects on the start page...how do I do this? I know I can track it down in the registry, but is there an approved route to go?
There is an MSDN article here which suggests that you just move the projects to a new directory.
However, as you mentioned, the list of projects is kept in the registry under this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\ProjectMRUList
and the list of recent files is kept in this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\FILEMRUList
Note For Visual Studio 2015:
The location has changed. You can check out this answer for details.
Some people have automated clearing this registry key with their own tools:
Visual Studio Most Recent Files Utility
Add-in for cleaning Visual Studio 2008 MRU Projects list
PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2008
Features
Clear Recent File List
Clear Recent Project List
Clear All Panes
Copy Path
Email CodeSnippet
Insert Guid Attribute
Show All Files
Undo Close
Collapse Projects
Copy Class
Paste Class
Copy References
Paste References
Copy As Project Reference
Edit Project File
Open Containing Folder
Open Command Prompt
Unload Projects
Reload Projects
Remove and Sort Usings
Extract Constant
Transform Templates
Close All
If you try opening up a project that can no longer be found, Visual Studio will prompt you for permission to remove it from the MRU list. So if you temporarily rename an appropriate top level folder to fake the projects' disappearance, you can get rid of the projects one by one.
In Visual Studio 2015 all the history lists (including search history, file MRU and project MRU) are now located at:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\MRUItems
You will see a different GUID folder for each list, and a sub-folder called Items in each of them. Find the Items folder that contains the relevant list, and just delete its parent GUID folder.
Visual Studio will re-create the GUID folder together with a new Items child folder, next time it wants to add something to the list again.
I found the MRU editor from Code Project a great tool for that. No problems with it, and it works on 2003, 2005, and 2008.
Note: This answer is specific to Visual Studio 2010.
If you don't want to manually edit the registry, you can use PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2010.
PowerCommands 10.0 is a set of useful extensions for the Visual Studio
2010 adding additional functionality to various areas of the IDE.
The specific command for clearing the registry from the extension is:
Clear Recent Project List This command clears the Visual Studio recent project list. The Clear Recent Project List command brings up a
Clear File dialog which allows any or all recent projects to be
selected.
The PowerCommands can be installed with the Visual Studio extension manager: Tools > Extension Manager > Online Gallery: search for PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2010.
Try Recently Used Files: a free addin for Visual Studio that manages MRU files on a per-project basis:
Supported for VS 2010, 2012, 2013.
For Visual Studio 2012, 2013:
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a61cbd1d-b5a2-490b-a6bb-f0ea3ecf214a
For Visual Studio 2010:
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/45283881-5a62-4dc1-8ffb-4cbc02709947
For Visual Studio 2013:
Open the Run dialog (Press Win + R)
type: regedit
navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > VisualStudio
click 12.0 then the files will show up on the right side.
Look for the "LastLoadedSolution", right click then click Modify
change the value to 0.
This worked for me.
I'm not sure if this solution has been posted somewhere here, but if you have VS 2013 Update 5 you can open start page, and right click project below "Recent" list, and choose "Remove from list". I don't know how about other VS versions, maybe this feature is available.
I had this issue as applied to VS 2017 where you do not have any MRU items in the registry as in the previous versions. The solution was, on the other hand, simple: go to "Tools->Extensions and Updates" and install "Power Commands for Visual Studio". After they have been installed, your File menu will look as shown below.
Just click the menu item to clear the project MRU.