How to pin Visual Studio Solutions in Windows 7 Taskbar

Asked 10/9, 2009 at 8:9 Answered 5/5, 2022 at 7:56

As in the title. Is it possible? When I rightclick on Visual Studio in a Taskbar I have a "Recent" category there i have but 1 .cs file that I can pin.

Now the question is: what to do to pin a .sln solution there?

Hemianopsia answered 10/9, 2009 at 8:9 Comment(3)

+1 So hopes this gets answered! Been bugging me a while! – Slushy 10/9, 2009 at 8:21

This should probably be moved to superuser.com – Frication 10/9, 2009 at 8:31

well I asked simialer, but more general question there where I got pawned with down votes for threatning people with bad karma :-) superuser.com/questions/38617/… – Hemianopsia 10/9, 2009 at 9:7

If you pin the VSLauncher.exe to the taskbar (drag it in) you will get recent projects and solutions on the right click menu.

You can find this exe in your program files / common files directory. Mine is in

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSENV\VSLauncher.exe

You can also do this by dragging a solution into the task bar (which does the same as the above). If you do this rightclicking it will show recent projects and solutions.

Hope this helps.

Gayegayel answered 10/9, 2009 at 11:9 Comment(3)

This one works if I use the pinned solutions, but if I just click on the icon - it shows me a message box complaining about missing file: The following files were specified on the command line: [empty space - nothing in it] These files could not be found and will not be loaded. – Hemianopsia 10/9, 2009 at 11:31

There is another drawback - when a solution is opened, another VS icon shows up on the taskbar. The launcher icon stays inactive. – Acanthaceous 17/2, 2012 at 13:31

This was the best (quickest/simplest) solution for me when using Visual Studio 2012 – Shep 19/9, 2012 at 8:47

This is for Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition. You may adapt for other editions.

reg add HKCR\.sln\OpenWithProgids /v VCExpress.dsw.9.0

Militarism answered 20/10, 2009 at 10:57 Comment(2)

I prefer this method, since you don't have to override your default program for .sln files and you don't have to drag another program to your taskbar. – Lakia 22/6, 2011 at 15:54

More generically, just add the appropriate class to [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT]\.sln\OpenWithProgids as a String value, whether it's "VCExpress.dsw.9.0" or "VisualStudio.dsw.9.0" or something else. – Lakia 22/6, 2011 at 16:35

This is an old question, but I found a way avoid the drawback to the accepted answer that Vladimir Grigorov mentioned in a comment, that an additional VS icon shows up on the taskbar.

Instead of pinning VSLauncher.exe, pin

devenv.exe

(C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE)

to the taskbar.

Now drag your solution onto the VS icon in the taskbar. You should see a tooltip saying "Pin to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010". Using this method will let you pin solutions to the taskbar without showing additional VS icons on the taskbar.

Vaish answered 14/6, 2016 at 7:31 Comment(0)

The VSLauncher.exe needs a solution or project path to do anything usefull. In the right click of the taskbar item you can right click the microsoft version selector and click properties. There you will then be able to give it a path by editing the target field. This will stop you getting the error.

This is all based on adding one solution to the task bar as per your question. I did not find a way of adding more than one!

Hope this helps.

Gayegayel answered 10/9, 2009 at 11:53 Comment(1)

note that my question is "How to pin Visual Studio Solutions" <- plural :-) – Hemianopsia 10/9, 2009 at 12:52

To expand on karyonix's answer:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.sln.9.0]
@="Microsoft Visual Studio Solution"
"InfoTip"="prop:Size;Type;DocComments;Write"
"TileInfo"="prop:Type;DocComments;Size"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.sln.9.0\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.sln.9.0\shell\Open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.sln.9.0\shell\Open\command]
@="\"c:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\\Common7\\IDE\\devenv.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.sln.9.0\ShellEx]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.sln.9.0\ShellEx\IconHandler]
@="{9A2B23E4-2A50-48DB-B3C3-F5EA12947CB8}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.sln.9.0\ShellEx\PropertyHandler]
@="{9A2B23E4-2A50-48DB-B3C3-F5EA12947CB8}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.sln\OpenWithProgids]
"VisualStudio.sln.9.0"=""

Note the reference to Program Files (x86) - adjust if you're not running 64-bit Windows.

This adds Visual Studio 2008 to the "Open With" menu, and enables recent solutions in the right-click menu.

Sucrose answered 18/4, 2012 at 21:41 Comment(0)

Just wanted to add to Blorgbeard and karyonix that this definitely works, and here's how I modified it to work with VS 2005 sln files:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.sln]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.sln\OpenWithProgids]
"VisualStudio.sln.8.0"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.sln.8.0]
@="Microsoft Visual Studio Solution"
"InfoTip"="prop:Size;Type;DocComments;Write"
"TileInfo"="prop:Type;DocComments;Size"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.sln.8.0\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.sln.8.0\shell\Open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.sln.8.0\shell\Open\command]
@="\"D:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\\Common7\\IDE\\devenv.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.sln.8.0\ShellEx]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.sln.8.0\ShellEx\IconHandler]
@="{9A2B23E4-2A50-48DB-B3C3-F5EA12947CB8}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VisualStudio.sln.8.0\ShellEx\PropertyHandler]
@="{9A2B23E4-2A50-48DB-B3C3-F5EA12947CB8}"

Make sure you edit the command path correctly, because for 2005 the folder is Microsoft Visual Studio 8, not 8.0

Hua answered 3/10, 2014 at 14:59 Comment(0)

I lost my pinned solutions after clicking solution from inaccessible drive. Here is how to fix:

Follow these steps
Restart explorer.exe process

Eleanoreleanora answered 5/5, 2022 at 7:56 Comment(0)

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