How do I REALLY reset the Visual Studio window layout?

Question

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

Answer 1

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 :)

Answer 2

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

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

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.

Answer 5

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.

Answer 6

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.