Visual studio 2015 missing start menu icons Windows 8 - visual-studio

We are currently trying to deploy Visual studio 2015 Professional across our school in a windows 8 domain environment. Visual studio installs fine but its shortcut are missing from the start menu. and the search feature does not find visual studio. The program can be ran directly.
I have found some of the shortcuts in: "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Visual Studio Tools" however these are only for the command prompt tools and not for visual studio itself.
Is there anywhere else the shortcuts may be?

I found the same thing happened with my installation under Windows 7
Instead of the shortcuts being inside the Visual Studio 2015 start menu programs directory, I found them one level up in the parent directory - somewhere I did not expect them to be.

As it turns out our domain has a script that deletes any shortcuts not in a sub folder - That would explain why the shortcuts are disappearing!
We have added a line to our install script to place the shortcut in the sub directory.

The installation move the shortcut for visual studio 2015 outside the 2015 folder to be consistent with other Microsoft applications.
Type: Windows key to use "Search for programs and files", type "Visual Studio" to open VS quickly.
or
Type: Windows key , click All programs, then click "visual studio 2015"

Related

Visual Studio 2013 Documentation link

Is it possible to create shortcut to Visual Studio 2013 Help Viewer? It is possible to start if from Visual Studio IDE, Help menu. I want to run it, for example, from a desktop shortcut.
In previous Visual Studio versions there are shortcuts in Windows start menu, for example: "Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Documentation". 2013 doesn't have such shortcut.
Help Viewer is located at %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Help Viewer\v2.1\HlpView.exe. Just create a shortcut to it. HlpView.exe requires some parameters,
Usage: HlpViewer.exe /catalogName [/options]
it gives a sample:
HlpViewer.exe /catalogName VisualStudio12 /locale en-us
Personally, I don't use Help Viewer and it doesn't have any content on my computer. Just try it on your machine.

Project needs to be opened by Visual Studio 2008 by default in Windows 8

I have installed visual studio 2008 and 2010 and also vs 2012 on windows 8. Now if I open a vs 2008 project, it asks me to convert it to vs 2010 which I don't want.
In windows 8 I tried "open with" but I can't see vs 2008 in programs, when i go to it's destination and try to open it, it opens up as VS 2010 again.
Update
Problem isn't that i can't open projects with VS 2008, problem is I am not able to force a VS 2008 solution to be opened by VS 2008 (by default).
I can open the project by opening VS 2008 and then use file -> Open
These projects are in SVN Tortoise Repository, on windows 7 they open by VS 2008 by default but now I got windows 8 so each time I open project, it asks me for this,
Sorry for confusion.
Not sure why it's working the way it use to work in Windows 7 but I will look it into it, however I am able to fix the problem by,
I think problem came up because I installed VS 2012 and VS 2010 first and then installed VS 2008 at end.
I am experienced something similar.
Windows 8.1 with VS2008 and VS2013 installed.
Problem:
Right mouse select a VS2008 .sln file in File manager.
Select "Open with..." from the menu
The dialog shows one choice, VS2013.
From the "How do you want to open this file?" dialog, select "More Options"
Scroll down past all the new choices and select "Look for another app on this PC"
Paste in the path to VS2008. Example: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe"
It runs VS2013 instead.
Also, using "File->Properties" to associate the .sln file with VS2008 did not work as I expected. After setting the file association, I expected the be able to double click on that .sln file and bring up VS2008 but it ran VS2013 instead.
Solution:
After using "File->Properties" to attempt to associate the .sln file with VS2008 something has changed.
Now when I attempt step 2 ("Open with..") I get 2 choices: VS2013 and "Visual Studio Version Selector". Selecting "Version Selector" with "Use the App for all .sln files" checked will cause subsequent .sln files to be opened with the correct Visual Studio.

VS2010 doesn't appear in my apps windows 8

Mine is a Windows 8 machine. I installed Visual Studio 2012, then went to Microsoft SQL Server 2012. Later I was told to install Visual Studio 2010.
The first two installs worked great. Got all the neat icons and everything is good. MSVS2010 SP1 got installed successfully.
Now the third install of Visual Studio 2010 is where I am stuck.
I am downloading it from a Microsoft licensed CD. No errors during installation, but it is only installing Microsoft Visual Studio command prompt, X64 Win64 command prompt and Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 documentation. Nothing else. So basically I dunno where to start to fire up the program.
So I went to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7, C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7 to find the devenv.exe. Couldn't find in either of the locations.
Then went to Run and typed devenv.exe, boom VS2010 opens. So I did a Apps search on Windows 8. When I type devenv.exe the only thing I could find there is SQL Server data tools which has a VS2010 icon. Double click this and VS 2010 opens. So my guess is SQL server 2012 needs VS2010 and installed it.
Questions:
Where is devenv.exe?
Why isn't it installing the rest of the stuff?
How do I start VS2010?
I don't think double clicking on sql server data tools is the correct way. I want VS2010 to appear in my Apps just like any other application. This could be a rather silly question. I did a lot of research and am kinda confused with all these parameters.
In Windows 8, if you search for "Visual Studio" in "Start" screen you won't find VS 2010. Instead search for "devenv", it appears.
Searching for "SQL server data tools" also will work.
In 64bit machines, you can find 2010 in
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE
Create a Desktop short cut.
Uninstalling and re installing Visual Studios is not required for the Visual Studio 2010 icon to show up on Windows 8.The Visual Studio 2010 icon is located at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv. You can add this icon to your task bar or windows desktop and launch Visual Studio 2010. There are two devenv icons in that folder location just select latest one you can find that out by looking at the file properties. The folder path I mentioned above will be different for 64 bit windows machines.
For some reason Visual Studio 2010 did not completely load for me, although it said it did. So I went into its folder and selected the setup.exe to run maintenance mode. There I re-installed it. It asked me (this time) to restart my laptop. I did that. Then I was prompted to update it using the service pack 1 update, via the given link. Then it was ok.
There are two ways to view:
In Win8 or Win8.1 search for "devenv.exe" name it appear and create shortcut in desktop.
Go to this address on your computer:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe
and create a shortcut for this file on your desktop.
You have two options here
in windows 8.0 or 8.1 go to run and type'devenv' and then the Visual studio opens up for you.
Else search using the app name and select 'Microsoft Visual studio' from the list of apps installed, right click on the app and select the option 'pin to the start' or 'pin to the task bar'. This creates short cut with the icon of the app handy.

VS2010 not show up if SQL Server 2012 installed before

I installed them in this order:
Install SQL Server 2012 SP1 x64
Visual Studio 2010
This is the proper order that other developers recommended and as i did.
The problem is, if SQL Server 2012 installed on the system, VS2010 shortcuts are not show up.
How can I fix this?
Note: OS is Windows 8.
This is a bug.
A workaround is to navigate to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start
Menu\Programs\Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, right-click on the
shortcut called Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, and select Pin to Start.
After this, there will be two shortcuts targeting devenv (one titled
Microsoft SQL Server Data Tools and one titled Microsoft Visual Studio
2010)
Refer: http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/730276/after-installing-sql-server-2012-on-my-windows-8-pc-visual-studio-2010-shortcuts-disappeared
As the OP stated. I too installed SQL before VS. I always do. So I was baffled when i could not find my VS2010 shortcut.
It turns out that the icon is mis-named. If you open (or check the properties) of the icon in the Visual Studio 2010 start menu folder called "Sql Server Data Tools". You may find it is actually the VS 2010 IDE.
Workaround provided by
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/730276/after-installing-sql-server-2012-on-my-windows-8-pc-visual-studio-2010-shortcuts-disappeared
Edit the shortcut start target. For instance. I made mine not display the splash page.
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" /nosplash
Then repin it to the start menu (right click).
Installing Visual Studio 2010 SP1 seems to fix this as well, its available to download from here http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=23691 If you run devenv.exe it should prompt you to do this also.

Visual Studio Run as administrator shortcut

how do I create a shortcut that runs Visual Studio with Administrator rights?
Actually I have to navigate to the Visual Studio start menu folder, click on the icon with the right mous button and choose "Run as Administrator".
Right-click on the shortcut, select Properties. On the Shortcut tab, click the Advanced button (bottom right). Check the Run As Administrator box.
I know the OP was about how to create a shortcut that runs VS as admin, but using the steps below you can just always have VS launch as admin.
This is a copy of my answer to a similar post on SuperUser:
Option 1 - Set VSLauncher.exe and DevEnv.exe to always run as admin
To have Visual Studio always run as admin when opening any .sln file:
Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSEnv\VSLauncher.exe.
Right-click on VSLauncher.exe and choose Troubleshoot compatibility.
Choose Troubleshoot program.
Check off The program requires additional permissions and hit Next.
Click the Test the program... button to launch VS.
Click Next, then hit Yes, save these settings for this program, and then the close buton.
To have Visual Studio always run as an admin when just opening visual studio directly, do the same thing to the DevEnv.exe file(s). These file are located at:
Visual Studio 2010
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe
Visual Studio 2012
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe
Visual Studio 2013
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe
Visual Studio 2015
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe
Option 2 - Use VSCommands extension for Visual Studio
Install the free VSCommands extension for Visual Studio (it's in the Visual Studio Extensions Gallery) and then configure it to always have Visual Studio start with admin privileges by going to Tools -> VSCommands -> Options -> IDE Enhancements -> General and check off Always start Visual Studio with elevated permissions and click the Save button.
Note: VSCommands is not currently available for VS 2015, but their site says they are working on updating it to support VS 2015.
My Opinion
I prefer Option 2 because:
it also allows you to easily turn off this functionality.
VSCommands comes with lots of other great features so I always have it installed anyways.
it's just easier to do than option 1.
What I was looking for was a way of running Visual Studio Solution files (.sln) as Administrator. I just found a pretty good way of doing this...
Place this content inside a file named RunAsAdministrator.reg:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.Launcher.sln\Shell\runas\Command]
#="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Common Files\\Microsoft Shared\\MSEnv\\VSLauncher.exe\" \"%1\""
Double click the file to execute it.
Now, when you right click a file you'll have the option of running it as Adminstrator like this:
Here's the full story by the AWESOME David Ebbo: Open your solution files as admin
Create a shortcut to Visual Studio on your desktop
Right-click on the program
"Send to"
"Desktop (create shortcut)"
Open up properties
Right-click on the shortcut
"Properties"
Within the "Shortcut" tab, click on "Advanced..." (somewhat towards bottom right)
Select "Run as administrator" in the new window
Apply and OK all the windows.
Now when you use this shortcut, it should run the program as administrator.
The above answers works, but on Windows 10 you might bump with disabled advanced shortcut screen. So for windows 10 do the following:
Create shortcut to the solution file
Right click the shortcut => properties
Choose Shortcut tab
Under Target add the visual studio executable location before the sln path. For example:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" C:\mypath\example\example.sln
Press Advanced under the shortcut tab - you'll be able to edit the advances window.
Select "Run as administrator"
Press ok
Double click the shortcut - you should be able to run the solution as administrator now.
Ctrl + Shift + Clicking on Visual Studio 2019 shortcut seems to open Visual Studio Professional 2019 in admin mode.

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