How to change whole solution's project's name in Visual Studio?

Asked 19/8, 2017 at 15:22 Answered 2/8 at 16:15

I have ASP.NET CORE C# project.

I want to change my solution name and whole project's name.

For Example :

OldSolution.OldName // this is Solution

OldSolution.OldName.Project1
OldSolution.OldName.Project2
OldSolution.OldName.Project3

ChangedName.NewName // this is solution

ChangedName.NewName.Project1
ChangedName.NewName.Project2
ChangedName.NewName.Project3

with all namespace changing, name of projects which referenced to other projects ( when i look at references of a project, referenced projects are still same name. They have not been changed. )

can i do that ?

Appreciable answered 19/8, 2017 at 15:22 Comment(0)

I was also struggling with this problem and didn't find automated way to do this. I had to do it manually like that:

Renaming the Solution. Easiest part. Go to Solution Explorer (from menu View -> Solution Explorer), select the solution and then hit F4 (or from menu – View -> Properties Window), select the Name property and type the new name and then press ENTER. This will not change the name of the folder in which the entire solution exists. If you want to change that (and I did wanted to do that), you have to close Visual Studio and then rename that folder. If you open again Visual Studio and open the solution by Browsing after the new name (File -> Open -> Project/Solution ..), you will see that the new name for the solution has been changed.

This is how you can try to do it with projects:

Right-click the project in Solution Explorer, select Rename, and enter the new name
Right-click the project again and select Properties. Change the "Assembly name" and "Default namespace" on the Application tab.
When you have ReSharper installed, right-click the project again and select Refactor -> Adjust Namespaces. Accept the changes.
Change the AssemblyTitle and AssemblyProduct in Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs
Delete bin and obj directories in Windows Explorer
Open the SLN file (with a text editor such as Notepad++) and change the path to the project (there should be multiple places).
Open the Solution again. Clean and Rebuild the project.

Iq answered 19/8, 2017 at 15:55 Comment(5)

I haven't found option called "Refactor -> Adjust Namespaces". Instead I followed your first two points and then used Notepad++ to find and replace all occurrences of the old namespace in the solution folder. Quite brutal treatment but it worked fine. – Hylophagous 7/12, 2018 at 12:8

The "Refactor -> Adjust Namespaces" option is a ReSharper feature. (A paid Visual Studio extension.) – Brainsick 22/2, 2019 at 20:20

My folder structure won't change? – Formation 10/2, 2022 at 10:19

If you do not have access to ReSharper, I found a relatively quick way to refactor all the namespaces. Open the 'Replace In Files' feature by pressing ctrl+shift+f. Then replace all occurences of 'namespace OldProjectName.' with 'namespace NewProjectName.'. When all are replaced, do the same but instead replace 'using OldProject.' with 'using NewProject.'. Now rebuild and fix the few remaining errors where the namespace was referenced without 'using' or 'namespace' preceding it. – Variegate 26/1, 2023 at 15:8

Visual Studio 2022 now has a "Sync Namespaces" option in the right-click context menu of a project or solution. No need for ReSharper. – Tracay 2/8 at 16:11

To rename a solution

In Visual Studio Solution Explorer, right-click the solution node and then select Rename from the context menu.
Type the new name for your solution.

To rename a project

In Visual Studio Solution Explorer, right-click the project node and then select Rename from the context menu.
Type the new name for your solution.

To change default namespace : Go to Project-> Properties-> Default Namespace and enter the name you wish to have.

To change namespaces of old files please refer this stackoverflow post

Replace in Files (Ctrl+Shift+H) will replace old namespace with new one !

To update references : you need to add references again , i don't think there is a simpler way. Besides deleting and adding references is pretty straightforward

Hope this helps !

Adalia answered 19/8, 2017 at 15:29 Comment(6)

This doesnt help me. Bcs all solution is still same also namespaces, referenced project's names etc. – Appreciable 19/8, 2017 at 15:31

Old files which have been created before i change names are still same namespace, still old reference name in references of a project. No changing here. – Appreciable 19/8, 2017 at 15:38

trey replacing namespace name in all files as suggested above – Adalia 19/8, 2017 at 15:43

It doesnt change referenced project's names. Project's names which behind of project properties that i don't know still same. For example : I referenced A project to B project, and then i changed name "A" to "C"! Then B's references still "A"... And there are errors when i do this. – Appreciable 19/8, 2017 at 15:48

you need to add references again , i don't think there is a simpler way. Besides deleting and adding references is pretty straightforward – Adalia 19/8, 2017 at 15:50

When i do that, i get error. Did you try what you say all ? – Appreciable 19/8, 2017 at 15:51

In .net core 2.2 there is a file _ViewImports.cshtml through an exception when you try to rename a namespace, to overcome this rename the namespace in this file manually first (no need for refactor -> rename) and then rename thenamespace` from elsewhere using refactor -> rename. Hope this help.

Eulaliaeulaliah answered 11/10, 2019 at 14:30 Comment(0)

I was able to change my entire solution today by doing the following (keep in mind I purposely wanted to change every name from the old to new (including string literals).

Notepad++ Find and Replace entire solution folder with the old and new name
Manually change folder names / project names

This will only work if you want to change absolutely everything from the old to new name but its a bit faster and less complicated.

Enlace answered 21/4, 2022 at 15:14 Comment(2)

Do you mean to change all references to the solution name in source code files as well? OP states that this is part of their goal. – Luminesce 27/4, 2022 at 2:48

With the notepad++ replace it will literally change everything so I believe that any references will be changed to the new name – Enlace 27/4, 2022 at 11:11

For me an extra step was needed along with rename option. Just adding the steps below for anyone who needs it.

  1. Go to project path and close the visual studio if opened.
  2. Rename the .sln, project and .csproj name with the respective name 
     you want to replace with.
  3. open the .sln with visual studio.
  4.In case it  gives fails to upload error then just right click on project and select  the option "remove".
  5.Select the solution and  right click on it and select option add->existing project -> navigate to the path where the project exists and select .csproj file.
  6. project name space will be still with old name then replace the name using replace all.
  7. clean the solution and rebuild, you are done.

Hope this helps someone.

Kid answered 21/12, 2023 at 9:14 Comment(0)

Visual Studio 2022 includes a Sync Namespaces option in the right-click context menu of a solution or project.

Tracay answered 2/8 at 16:15 Comment(0)

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