Resetting Visual Studio 2005 IDE Environment Settings

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Resetting Visual Studio 2005 IDE Environment Settings: I recently installed the Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite trial and after waiting for what seemed like eternity for it to install, I encountered an odd error when opening the IDE. When I launched Visual Studio, the splash screen showed all of the correct components installed (VB 2.0, C# 2.0, VSTS for Software Developers, etc.etc), but when the IDE loads, there is no start page, and no options to create projects or websites under the File menu. The only option was to “Open File” or “Save File”. The View menu did not provide the option to view any of the expected windows such as Solution Explorer or Server Explorer. It was as if the IDE was just a shell, with no real functionality. I was able to click the icon on the toolbar to show the start page, and this allowed me to create or open projects or websites, but the options were still missing from the File and View menus. I tried reinstalling, to no avail. Finally, through trial and error, I found the option to Import and Export Settings on the Tool menu. I chose this option and chose Reset All Settings. I was then given the options that are normally displayed the first time VS is run, where you can choose the preferred IDE setup, such as Visual Basic Developer or C++ Developer. I chose VB Developer, and VOILA, the environment was reset and all of the expected options were available. I can't explain why I started off with a stripped-down IDE with very little functionality, but resetting the environment settings got me back where I wanted to be. If anyone has any insight as to what caused this, I would be very interested to hear it. I spent several hours today uninstalling and reinstalling Visual Studio Team Suite needlessly.; posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 6:08 PM Print

Comments

# re: Resetting Visual Studio 2005 IDE Environment Settings: Andy; 9/26/2007 4:45 AM; Thanks for that post, just what I was searching for.

# re: Resetting Visual Studio 2005 IDE Environment Settings: Jon; 5/10/2008 11:18 AM; Thanks, exactly what I was looking for!

# re: Resetting Visual Studio 2005 IDE Environment Settings: Erik; 10/25/2008 7:28 AM; Thanks. I've never been asked when installing vs 2008.. Thanks for sharing!