Visual studio does not install .vsix files

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I've both VS 2012 and VS 2013 installed on my computer. The problem is that when I download an VSIX-File and open it with the Visual Studio version selector the file gets opened by VS but instead of installing it. VS opens the file as if it was an unknown binary format.

The attached image shows how VSIX-files are opened (happens with every file ... this is just an example):

enter image description here

Schaffer answered 18/9, 2014 at 7:42 Comment(3)

What OS are you using? Do you need to right-click the file and unblock it first in explorer? – Chide 18/9, 2014 at 7:52

Using windows 7 - tried to unblock it but it did not make any difference. – Schaffer 18/9, 2014 at 8:9

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I faced the same issue. Just use the VSIXInstaller to install the extension.

You can open "Developer Command Prompt for VS2012" tool in Start -> Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 -> Visual Studio Tools. On the console, run the below command:

VSIXInstaller <path to vsix file>

Challis answered 22/9, 2014 at 3:51 Comment(3)

It installed the VSIX file, not how do I work with it in Visual Studio? Do I open a new project? If so, where do I find it? Thanks. – Sociable 11/8, 2015 at 18:57

This worked, but what a pain to have to use the command prompt to do this. Thanks for the tip! – Tajo 2/11, 2015 at 18:16

@LandonPoch You can choose Right-click: "Open With" on a vsix file and browse for VSIXInstaller.exe file to open it with proper program. select "always use this..." checkbox to don't repeat it later – Simmonds 11/12, 2018 at 7:2

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Open "Developer Command Prompt for VS2015" as administrator.
Type VSIXInstaller.exe vsixFilePath

Note that this way wouldn't work with me and gives me "Path to vsix file 'G:\Roslyn' is invaild or you don't have required access permissions". To solve this you need to put the path in a double quote like this:

 VSIXInstaller.exe "G:\Roslyn SDK.vsix"

Enact answered 11/8, 2016 at 20:28 Comment(1)

This worked perfectly for me with VS2017 trying to install AWS Toolkit. Running the exe normally it would prompt for admin privileges and then just do nothing. – Irinairis 19/9, 2017 at 0:59

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I got into a weird situation where in a fresh install of W10 and VS2015 Community, the Player Framework vsix installation won't start, either by dbl click or from command prompt using VSIxInstaller.exe, and would show no message at all. The solution was to open an elevated command prompt (run Developer Command Prompt for VS2015 as administrator) and then type VSIXInstaller.exe worked.

Telegu answered 3/10, 2015 at 12:16 Comment(1)

This fixed my problem too. – Izettaizhevsk 12/6, 2016 at 13:32

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I am not clear whether you want to install or just view the contents of VSIX. If you want to install the extension, you just need to double click it and it will install (Do not try to open it with VS Version selector). If you want to see what is inside VSIX, it is basically an archive. So either try to use program like 7-zip to open it else, rename .vsix to .zip and then unzip it.

Further, there is also a chance that you have wrongly associated vsix files to be opened with Visual Studio. In such a case it will open in Visual Studio any case.

Finally, if you have wrongly associated the vsix to open with Visual Studio, try installing the extension using VSIXInstaller.exe found in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\VSIXInstaller.exe

Hollo answered 18/9, 2014 at 20:4 Comment(0)

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To add to the other answers, if the VSIX files either doesn't have an associated program to open with or opens with the wrong application, selecting the VSIXInstaller.exe as the associated commands re-enables the ability to double-click and directly install it (without the need to do it via commandline).

Pyrotechnics answered 13/10, 2016 at 7:39 Comment(0)

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I faced a similar issue when I first installed VS 2017. This is what worked for me. Resolution:

Restart VS 2017.(I hadn't restarted it before installation)
Install it from Tools->Extension & Updates.Search for "Perforce" and install.

Cryptogenic answered 22/2, 2018 at 9:7 Comment(0)

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I double clicked on this and it installed just fine.

Couldn't do it on VS2013 through the extensions dialog.

Sonnysonobuoy answered 13/6, 2017 at 18:44 Comment(0)

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for me the problem was the extension InstallerProjects was on network server so I had to copy it to my machine (local) and it worked

Platinum answered 21/1, 2018 at 8:29 Comment(0)

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