visual studio not remembering open documents & startup project - visual-studio

For the past week, something has changed about my VS solution, and I havent found a setting to fix it yet.
When I close the solution and restart:
the start-up project reverts to a different one than was selected when I last closed
my project heirarchy is not what it was when it closed - every project is expanded
the documents that were open when closed are all closed
In each case I want the solution to look just like it did when I closed it last.
How do I make that happen?
Cheers,
Berryl

I believe this information all lives in your .suo file and/or .user file. If they've become corrupt, VS will struggle, so it'll revert to the default.
Maybe try exiting VS, deleting the .suo and/or .user files, start VS and set it up how you want, restart it again and see if it remembered the settings.

I ran into this problem in Visual Studio 2015. Removing the .suo file in the solution root did not fix the problem. I needed to remove everything under the following directory:
\\SolutionRootFolder\.vs\FolderWithSolutionName\v14\
.vs is a hidden folder and .suo is a hidden file under the v14 folder that must be deleted along with the vbcs.cache folder.
Update for VS2017: The problem still exists in VS2017 with the v15 folder.

This doesn't address the startup project issue, but checking the "Reopen documents on solution load" checkbox fixed the remembering open documents issue for me.
You can change that setting here:
Tools -> Options -> Projects and Solutions -> General -> Reopen documents on solution load
Not sure if that checkbox existed before I upgraded Visual Studio 2017 to version 15.8.3 or if it got reset somewhere along the way

In Visual studio 2015 :
Tools -> Import and Export Settings -> Reset all settings
It worked for me.
Happy coding :)

I had the same problem and tried removing the .suo file. However, that did not fix the project. I then tried the 'reset' option which worked perfectly.

I had the same problem with Visual C# express.
The only way I found to solve the problem was to:
reset the settings (Tools -> Settings -> Reset)
exit studio
delete the old corrupted .suo files from the solutions affected.
It looks like a VS bug since Express versions don't support any plug-ins anyway. I noticed that after I would delete the .suo file and reopen visual studio it would generate a new .suo file for that particular solution which would normally be around 57k. If I would open any file in the environment and then close visual studio (even if that file was not part of the solution at all) it would save a .suo which was around 916k. After that, opening that same solution would cause the problem described above.

In Visual Studio 2015 >> Tools > Options > Enviroment > Startup > At startup > Load last loaded solution

For Visual Studio 2017, Tools->Import and Export Settings-Reset All Settings did it for me after trying all other solutions as proposed.

Tried all of the above. Nothing worked. What worked for me (VS2017) is just going to my repo folder, show hidden files, delete the .vs folder and restart VS.

I solved this problem in Visual Studio 2010 Professional by invoke main menu command "Windows->Reset Window Layout"

Visual Studio 2015 Enterprise: As for many people in this thread, deleting the .suo file did not help, so I resorted to resetting all settings...which worked. I did not want to wipe out all of my settings, so I spent a bit of time to see which setting was causing it (note: still cannot find it in options).
So, to fix the issue while keeping most of your setting intact, follow these steps:
Tools -> Import and Export Settings...
Select "Export Selected Settings" -> Next. Check all checkboxes.
Expand "General Settings"
[Important] Uncheck "Window Layouts". -> Next -> Finish.
Back to: Tools -> Import and Export Settings...
Reset all settings -> Next -> just reset all settings.
Now import the settings file you exported in Step 4
Now you will have retained almost all of your settings, and fixed the problem. All you have to do now is move your pallets around to what you like and you're done!

Delete the .vs (Hidden) folder from the solution path and reopen the Visual Studio.
It happens when updating the Visual Studio.

For Visual Studio 2019 version 16.9.2, this problem occurs if you open a detached code window. Even if you close the detached code window before exiting Visual Studio, when VS restarts, no code windows are reopened.
This occurs regardless of whether you've deleted your "Solution User Options" (.suo) file or whether Tools->Options->Projects and Solutions->General: "Reopen documents on solution load" is checked.
It's slated to be fixed in version 16.10, hopefully.
Edit:
The VS dev community source ticket below denotes this issue is fixed in VS 16.9.6 and 16.10 Preview 1:
https://developercommunity2.visualstudio.com/t/Visual-Studio-not-restoring-prior-open-d/1317364

In Visual Studio 2017 the Tools -> Import and Export Settings -> Reset all settings worked perfectly for me.
Erasing the .suo file did not...

Even I solved this problem in Visual Studio 2015 Professional go to "Windows->Reset Window Layout" First i tried deleting .user/.suo file, but it was not wark out for me .Last i got solution like above.

For Visual Studio 2017 v15 go to Tools -> Options -> Project and solutions and chech "Reopen documents on solution load".

So nothing here fixed it for me. I am in VS 2015. Everything was find until I moved everything over to Windows 10. I did a reinstall of VS and started it up. It asked me what basic settings I wanted and I choose General. None of the projects I migrated over would remember their open windows. Sucked.
I followed every single bit of advice here and nothing worked. Worse even on Windows 7 it was carrying over.
So I decided to purge my settings and reset. When I did I was prompted with a dialog box to choose which default collection of settings I wanted. I chose visual c# and that fixed the problem instantly.
The initial problem was caused by my choosing "General" settings....
I have not tried the other settings. YMMV.

The only way I found to solve the problem was to:
reset the settings (Tools -> Settings -> Reset)
exit studio
delete the old corrupted .suo files from the solutions affected.
it works for me

Just close VS and delete .suo file then reopen VS and try

Related

Visual Studio freezing (crashing) while loading solution

I've met with a strange problem. I had 7 projects in the solution. I had to add another MVC project. Now when the document (from the new project) is opened (for example HomeController.cs) and when this project is initializing at the start, it freezes the whole IDE like this:
(Some projects do not load)
After that, I have to kill the process. When I open VS again and fast click on another project (which is initializing) the freezing issue is gone. I have no idea what can cause a problem like this. I've tried with and without ReSharper but I get the same result. Also, I restored default settings of VS. Also repaired whole VS.
Maybe someone had the same problem and could give some helpful advice?
Usually removing of the hidden .vs folder in solution directory fixes the problem.
Possible solutions:
Delete .vs folder as mentioned above
Clear temp files from %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp
Readjust source control in Tools -> Options -> Source control -> Plugins, set to None, Save, close VS. Then reopen it and reset the plugin.
There is no particular order, but one of them might help.
I experienced the same issue with VS 2019 and fixed it by deleting the user.json file from %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Visual Studio Setup
EDIT
The issue reappeared after a few days, so I located the user settings for Visual Studio 2019 (%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\VisualStudio\16.0_f124b472) and deleting the following files seemed to have reset VS to a normal state:
Current.vsk
User.vsk
ObjBrowEx.dat
Please close all your solutions before deleting the files
I used to have this problem, it was solved just by double clicking any of the stuck projects. This nudges the loading process somehow and causes unloaded projects to complete its loading.
Delete the .suo file in the solution folder.
I am pretty sure I found this answer somewhere on Stackoverflow before, but now I can't find it anymore. Credits to whoever came up with this.
None of above answers worked for me and found this solution.
By opening solution in safe mode devenv.exe /SafeMode will show you details about file causing issue and then
Search for all the files in the project directory with extension *.user
and remove them all
last reloaded the projects
For Visual Studio 2019, I cleared my %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp folder.
It worked.
When you get over the past install multiply versions and the previous version was not fully uninstalled. This cause this issue in my case.
Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features
Search for all Visual Studio related programs and Uninstall those.

Why can't Visual Studio 2013 determine the workspace for my solution?

Earlier today the TFS server where I work went down. As a result, when I tried going into visual studio 2013 to work on a project that managed though TFS Visual Studio detected that TFS was inaccessible and accessed the solution in offline mode. Later on in the morning the server was rebooted and was online and operational. However, when I try to go online with the solution I get the error message stating "Unable to determine the workspace for this solution". So I went ahead and verified that the workspace is correct with all the bindings from the associated source control folder to that of my local folders. So to try and fix the issue I did the following steps:
I completely disassociated the solution from source control even though its offline.
Rebinded the solution to source control. At this point all locks were visible on the solution and the files that were checked out.
I got the latest version for the project and and updated my local solution.
Rebinding the solution worked to fix my initial issue. However, every time I exit visual studio 2013 and go back into the solution it loses all the bindings and it's unable to determine the workspace for the solution. Has anyone ran into this before? Is there something that I am overlooking? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Please Note, I have read though some of the posts already on stack-overflow and I have not found one that addresses the issue with Visual Studio losing the bindings on each start-up.
Quit Visual Studio.
There is a Registry-Entry
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\TeamFoundation\Instances\\[[NameYourOfTFSServerHere]]\Collections\\[[NameOfYourProjectCollectionHere]]
Change Reg_Dword Offline from 1 to 0
Delete the .suo file of the Solution
Reopen your Solution should fix it.
Make sure "show hidden files" is enabled, then delete the .suo file in the solution's folder (while VS is closed, of course)
Quit all Visual Studio instances and delete TFS cache at "c:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Team Foundation\5.0\Cache"

CodeLens not showing references

CodeLens stopped working for some reason in project solution that I'm dealing nowadays. It is not showing references instead "- references". However, when I open up Visual Studio with another project It works like charm.I can confirm that CodeLens is enabled. Do you have any idea to make it work?
My Solution:
Toggle the CodeLens feature off and then on again.
Note: Many have found the feature to be turned off after an update so you just need to turn it back on. Thanks to #razblack for calling this out. Don't forget to give his comment an upvote if this was your issue!
Go into Tools -> Options... -> Text Editor -> All Languages -> CodeLens.
Uncheck "Enable CodeLens" option and click OK.
Go back into Tools -> Options... -> Text Editor -> All Languages -> CodeLens.
Check the "Enable CodeLens" option and click OK.
Note: I've fixed the issue once before by closing the problem .cs file and then reopening it. Closing any referenced files may also be required.
My Problem(s):
Similar to the original poster, CodeLens stopped refreshing references after I made a bunch of refactors. I was seeing stale references to code that didn't exist and I was also seeing the "- references" issue as described in the original post.
My Environment & Specific Scenario:
Visual Studio 2015 with Service Pack 2 and Resharper Ultimate 10.0.1
I was doing a major overhaul with a ton of refactoring and my project wasn't compilable for an hour or so. Once I could compile the project again, the references weren't working.
Same problem here.
CodeLens works normally with small solutions, but not working with large ones.
And this behavior is accompanied with crash of Alm.Shared.Remoting.RemoteContainer.dll process.
Tried in VS 2013 Update 4 and VS 2013 Update 5 RC.
Solution:
Close all programs and clean %LocalAppData%\Temp folder (or maybe just ALM folder inside it).
A simple solution, which works!
I did try enabling CodeLens in Visual Studio (2015) -->
Quick Launch (Ctrl+Q)
Options (CodeLens)
But, it was enabled :( Then, it did work with: (Closing the programs),
Win+R --> %temp% EnterDelete all
For me, CodeLens was disabled, so make sure it is still enabled.
I know it is an easy answer, but it might help some developers.
Go to Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> All Languages -> CodeLens then click the "Enable CodeLens" option if it is not checked and then save it.
It looks like VS disabled it for some reason, maybe after an update or slow startup.
Try to remove .suo file which is storing some enviroment/solution settings. This helped me.
Just had this problem with VS 2019.
I tried disabling / enabling codelens and it didn't work.
I deleted the .suo after that and it didn't work.
I tried disabling / enabling codelens again (after deleting the .suo) and now it works again.
UPDATE (about 2 weeks later):
It started happening again and this time I disabled IntelliCode in Extensions and all of a sudden Codelens started working again.
UPDATE AGAIN (25 Nov 2019):
I reported this to Microsoft and had a dialog with them. You do not have to turn off all of Intellicode at this time, only disable Intellicode Refactorings in Tools -> Options -> Intellicode. The actual fix is slated for VS 2019 16.4 I believe.
You may have circular references in your solution that prevents CodeLens from working. Some details were provided in the comments for this issue on the Visual Studio Connect site:
Somehow, two of my projects in my solution ended up referencing each
other causing a circular reference. I think it was a by-product of
Resharper's shortcut to reference an undefined class. Once I was
cleaned up all of the references, I'm now getting valid values in my
reference counts.
How did you go about "cleaning" up references?
In my case, my solution has multiple project files. In the references
folder of Project A, there was a reference to Project B. In the
references folder of Project B, there was a reference to Project A.
This was causing the circular reference. If you try to do this
"manually", VS will prompt you with a warning regarding the circular
reference.
To clean this up, I removed the reference to Project B from my Project
A. I had do some minor class definitions in my Project B so everything
would still compile in the end.
I found out that if you block the Visual Studio with the Firewall, the Code Lens did not work.
So unblock it from the firewall to make it work.
Or edit Firewall settings for file:
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\assembly\GAC_32\
Microsoft.Alm.Shared.Remoting.RemoteContainer\
v4.0_12.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\
Microsoft.Alm.Shared.Remoting.RemoteContainer.dll
I had this problem with VS2015 that already had "update 1" installed.
The thing was that I originally installed VS2015 with the "custom" setup, not the "default" option, and I accidentally left out the "Git for Windows (3rd party)" option under "Common Tools".
This can be fixed by these steps:
Run the VS2015 setup again (from control panel - uninstall program)
Right click VS2015, select "Change"
On popup screen, select "Modify"
On setup screen, select "Git for Windows (3rd party)"
Move on with the setup, install selected features
In Visual Studio Professional or Enterprise you can enable CodeLens by doing this:
Tools → Options → Text Editor → All Languages → CodeLens->Enable
This is not available in some Community Edition versions
Try deleting .suo file inside of the hidden .vs folder in your project. This worked for me in VS 2017.
My Problem
Always directly after enabling CodeLens, press OK, i see the extra space required for the CodeLens information and than it disappears and when i look at the options again it is diabled. Driving me nuts.
Approaches
Deleting caches/configurations. Clean start without Extensions work. Normal start without ReSharper works. Reinstall ReSharper + deleting cahces -> False behavior
Solution
Unter Extensions - ReSharper - Options - Environment - Performance Guide was "Disable CodeLens for all languages" set to "Fix Silently". Set to Ignore -> WORKS!
hope this helps someone
I had the same problem, but one's of my colleagues who has the same development environment than me, doesn't have it...
The only one difference between our both environment was the quantity of RAM. There is 10GB allocated to his VM, and on mine, there is 6GB allocated. Since I upgraded the quantity of RAM allocated to my VM to 8GB, all my references are shown !
Installing Update 1 for Visual Studio 2015 fixed the problem for me.
Download Update 1
After reading the answer to this Stack Overflow question CodeLens only showing references? I decided my problem with Codelens was I was running Visual Studio 2015 Update 1 but was using Team Foundation Server 2012. I upgraded to TFS 2015, which upgraded in place and didn't require any new settings or URIs to be connected to Visual Studio as before. Then I reloaded my solution - but I still had the issue where it just said "– references" everywhere. I closed Visual Studio, started it again and reloaded my solution and finally I saw the correct reference counts as they used to show.
I found on the new VS 2015 update 3 it happens on a large class in a medium level solution 10+ projects and has nothing to do with circular references, a bad SUO file, or other things. It appears just deleting the temp file location(as mentioned already), closing VS and then reopening and hitting 'ALT+2'(forcing a reference find for Code Lens) made it magically work for me.
It also appears in some solutions and projects Visual Studio will create an old referenced suo file in .vs folder. I don't know the exact rhyme or reason, but it could be created in my case and the CodeLens worked again. It could potentially be a Visual Studio options is somehow referenced in projects under source control. As I know this happened with an older solution I have upgraded many times that was under GitHub control and it does have an .gitignore file(ignore files could change depending on source control). Suffice to say I have had similar things happen with other techs in the past when there is a lock on a source control file that should be updated and won't update. Simple answer is to add to an ignore and delete the settings file.
I have Visual Studio 2017 Professional on Windows 10.
I have observed this under several circumstances:
MicroSoft decided I needed some critical update for Windows and it installed while I was working - causing some of the VS components to crash.
Visual Studio update was received in background.
Some component of Visual Studio crashed - not the VS just some attached feature (did not note exactly which one)
No known cause.
In each of these cases I did in order (sometimes it worked after each of these)
Build / Rebuild solution
Build / Clean Solution
Close and Restart Visual Studio
Remove Symbols cache, restart VS
Close BOTH VS and SSMS and restart them
Close VS and Restart Windows
Close VS, force all pending Windows updates to load, restart Windows
In options, Uncheck Codelens/apply and re-check/apply (OK button)
I tried most of the solutions above without luck, as I also saw this problem. On top, certain newly added classes were showing up as white/black (regular text) in Visual Studio.
Changing to Release typically helped, but wasn't a long-term solution.
However, this helped on both issues - verified on another machine. Maybe some of the steps can be left out.
Close all document tabs
Clean solution
Right click on solution, click "Enable Lightweight Solution Load"
Close solution
Reopen solution
Right click on solution, click "Disable Lightweight Solution Load"
Close solution
Reopen solution
Rebuild
Explicitly enable CodeLens in the workspace settings.json:
// show code lens on editor
"editor.codeLens": true,
Verify that the following properties show on the editor:
// inline count of reference for classes, interfaces, methods, properties,
// and exported objects
"typescript.referencesCodeLens.enabled": true
I could fix my problem with C# CodeLens and Omnisharp.
My C# extension was 1.25.0.
What I did to fix my problem:
C# extension -> Unistall -> Install another version -> Version 1.24.4
After that in the settings I searched for "omnisharp: use global mono" and set it from "auto" to "alwayse".
Then restart Omnisharp and wait for it to compile and show references.
Removing data from %temp% folder resolved my issue in VS 2022.

Visual Studio 2010 intellisense stopped working

I've got a small problem with the VS2010. I installed Resharper and soon after my installation period has expired, My Visual Studio 2010 Intellisense stopped working. Its very hard to work without Intellisense. It doesn't even show the member properties even . I tried doing devenv.exe /ResetSettings and I end up with an error saying:
it is not recognised as a internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
My solution
I don't know how people are solving this but I just solved my above problem by resetting the Vs settings. Tools-->Import ExportSettings-->selecting the reset all settings and following the wizard .
By doing this of course I lost the little settings I made just like adding line numbers and stuff, but I did that again.
Not sure if this is the ideal solution for people looking for an answer, but just helped me to get the Intellisense in the first place which I was actually looking for.
This worked for me.
http://miguelmoreno.net/post/Intellisense-not-working-in-Visual-Studio.aspx
In Visual Studio select Tools > Options > Text Editor > All Languages. Ensure that the checkboxes in the Statement Completion section are actively checked (not grayed out).
For risk of sounding like tech support:
Reboot your machine and check if Intellisense is back, else try devenv /ResetSettings again.
I tried to reboot and devenv.exe /resetsettings.
What actually worked for me was the following:
Goto Tools > Options > Resharper
Suspend Resharper
Resume Resharper
No application restart or PC reboot or anything required after that.
Found here: http://geekswithblogs.net/GruffCode/archive/2010/11/09/resolving-issue-ldquoresharper-auto-completion-live-templates-and-intellisense-stop-working.aspx
Saving my project then restarting VS worked for me.
I accidentally had two of the same file open in the IDE. After closing one of them, intellisense started working again! This is how you can reproduce it:
Drag a tab onto your desktop, then open the same file by double clicking it in the Solution Explorer. You now have 2 of the same thing open. You can now drag that floating window back into the IDE as a tab and now you (unfortunately) have 2 of the same file open at the same time. You can only edit the original one and the other one will drive you crazy.
#Ronald McDonald, I tried that solution, but everytime I go back in, the Statement Completion options are reset, so that the boxes are filled, not checked (i.e. on for some languages, off for others). I'm guessing that it's ReSharper responsible?
For anyone else having this problem, if the above solutions don't work, and you have ReSharper, give this a try:
Reset key mappings in Visual Studio: Make sure only one instance is running. Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Keyboard -> Reset.
Restore ReSharper keyboard shortcuts: ReSharper -> Options -> Environment -> General -> ReSharper keyboard shortcuts. Close Visual Studio.
It's too early to tell, but I think (hope) that this has worked for me. I keep losing not only Intellisense, but undo/redo stops working (even greys out in the Edit menu, until I reopen the menu a few times), along with copy/paste and most (sometimes all) Ctrl+ keyboard shortcuts. I've had this problem for years, on different computers, and I'm pulling my hair out trying to fix it. I really hope this one finally worked!
First check in VS tools-> options-> editor -> statement completion is checked (not grayed out).
Then follow this procedure:
close all open files in the VS IDE.
Save & restart VS.
Make sure the file you are writing into is included in the project (and not excluded by mistake)
If this does not solve the problem, close VS & try from the command line running: devenv /ResetSettings
else try installing the hotFix: http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=26662
cheers
Change the path location for the project . If it exist in some folder then place it into another.
This will solve the issue
Intellisense stopped working. Tried the methods suggested here to no avail. Noticed it was only affecting only the current file. Closed Project, deleted the .suo file and restarted project. It is now working for all files. :)
If using ReSharper:
ReSharper / Options... / "Clear Caches".
Quit and restart Visual Studio.
I found that I had mistakenly uninstalled SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP2.
Re-installed, then set Options->TextEditor->Advanced->Disable Database = False
worked for me.

How do I REALLY reset the Visual Studio window layout?

I had a plugin installed in Visual Studio 2008, and it created some extra dockable windows. I have uninstalled it, and I can't get rid of the windows it created - I close them, but they always come back. They're just empty windows now, since the plugin is no longer present, but nothing I've tried gets rid of them. I've tried:
Window -> Reset Window Layout
Deleting the .suo files in my project directories
Deleting the Visual Studio 9.0 folder in my Application Settings directory
Any ideas?
Have you tried this? In Visual Studio go to Tools > Import and Export Settings > Reset all settings
Be sure you back up your settings before you do this. I made the mistake of trying this to fix an issue and didn't realize it would undo all my appearance settings and toolbars as well. Took a lot of time to get back to the way I like things.
Try devenv.exe /resetuserdata. I think it's more aggressive than the Tools > Import and Export options suggested.
Also check Tools > Add In Manager and make sure there aren't any orphans there.
How about running the following from command line,
Devenv.exe /ResetSettings
You could also save those settings in to a file, like so,
Devenv.exe /ResetSettings "C:\My Files\MySettings.vssettings"
The /ResetSettings switch, Restores Visual Studio default settings. Optionally resets the settings to the specified .vssettings file.
MSDN link
I had similar problem except that it happened without installing any plugin. I begin to get this dialog about source control every time I open the project + tons of windows popping up and floating which I had to close one by one.
Windows -> Rest Windows Layout, fixed it for me without any problems. It does bring the default setting which I don't mind at all :)
If you want to reset the window layout. Then
go to "WINDOW" -> "RESET WINDOW LAYOUT"
If you have an old backup copy of CurrentSettings.vssettings, you can try restoring it.
I had a completely corrupted Visual Studio layout. When I tried to enter debug, I was told that VS had become unstable. When I restarted, my window layout would then be totally screwed. I tried restoring the VS current user settings in the registry from a backup, but that didn't help. However, restoring CurrentSettings.vssettings seems to have cured it.
There seems to be a bunch of binary stuff in there and I can imagine it gets irretrievably corrupted sometimes.
Note: if you have vs2010 and vs2008 and you want to reset the 2008, you will need to specify in command line the whole path. like this:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" /resetsettings
If you don't specify the path (like devenv.exe /resetsettings), it will reset the latest version of Visual studio installed on your computer.
I close them, but they always come back
When you say "they always come back" do you mean "next time you restart Visual Studio" or "immediately"?
One quirk of Visual Studio (at least VS2005) is that settings aren't saved until you exit. That means that if VS crashes at all while you are using it, any layout changes you made will be lost. The way around this is to always gracefully exit when you have set up everything like you want it to be.
Not sure if this will help your particular situation though.
I tried most of the suggestions, and none of them worked. I didn't get a chance to try /resetuserdata. Finally I reinstalled the plugin and uninstalled it again, and the windows went away.
If you've ever backed up your settings (Tools -> Import and Export Settings), you can restore the settings file to get back to a prior state. This is the only thing that I've found to work.
If you want to reset your development environment of your visual studio, then you can use Import and Export setting wizard. see this for all steps:
http://www.authorcode.com/forums/topic/how-to-reset-development-environment-settings-of-your-visual-studio/
Window -> Reset Window Layout didn't exist for me. For anybody looking in 2022 or later, I finally found the answer! The crucial information, buried in a VSCode update release note, was right at the bottom of this section. Here it is if the link breaks in the future:
If you'd like to reset all views back to the default layout, you can run Views: Reset View Locations from the Command Palette.

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