Sync Settings between computers in Visual Studio 2010

Question

Is it possible to sync settings between computers in Visual Studio 2010? I know you can do it by exporting your settings then copying them over to another computer or putting them in drop box or something. So I was wondering if there is any other way to do it?

Pyrazole

This is a major PITA - we need an extension that syncs settings to cloud storage... – Excerpt

I've failed miserably to get this working using Dropbox which is a massive shame as it would be very useful. – Defalcate

Answer 1

Under Tools > Options > Environment > Import and Export Settings there is an option to Automatically save my settings to this file. You can then set this to a file in a shared location (shared network folder, file syncing service, etc) on any computer you want to sync. Personally I share my settings this way using Dropbox without any problems.

Lassiter

Visual Studio loads settings on startup and saves on exit so this may not work so well if you have it running on several machines at the same time, but it's certainly a good start! – Excerpt

Answer 2

There is new Extension for Visual Studio called ExtensionSync created by Latish Sehgal.

Add this extension into Visual Studio and it will read and update your settings each time it starts.

Further information can be found on this blog post.

Reorganize

All I noticed being stored was which extensions were active, not the settings of Visual Studio nor of the extensions themselves. – Idem

I ended up combining @Lassiter 's suggestion (using Live Mesh) and ExtensionSync and set them both up to write to the same shared folder. – Idem

Answer 3

I found the best solution for VS settings synchronization - it is called Pepper and is a free Visual Studio 2010 extension. It stores the settings using Windows Azure so they are available anywhere.

Finery

The link points to the Pepper project on codeplex. It uses Azure to store the settings online so you can download your settings anywhere. @Finery You might get more votes if you add a sentence or two about the link, so people don't have to click on it to find out what your solution is. – Pentomic

Answer 4

I've used Microsoft Live Mesh to keep folders in sync before. Or there's probably a "user data path" setting you can set to use something like DropBox/ZumoDrive drive letter.

Note: You can sync your Settings folder to get most stuff, but installed Extensions are stored in %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Extensions (on my machine: C:\Users{username}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Extensions)

!?!?!?!? Does anyone know why MS insists on continuing to use the Documents\Visual Studio 2010 for everything against their own Application Design Guidance?!?!?!?

Cockaigne

Answer 5

I would recommend the free extension:

VSCommands for Visual Studio 2010

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/d491911d-97f3-4cf6-87b0-6a2882120acf

VSCommands for Visual Studio 2012

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a83505c6-77b3-44a6-b53b-73d77cba84c8

View the full feature list

With details of:

• Accesing Options
• Debug Assistance
• IDE Settings Synchronization
• IDE Output Window Enhancements
• IDE Main Menu Enhancements
• IDE Solution Badges
• Solution Explorer Enhancements
  • Copy / Paste Reference
  • Copy / Paste As Link
  • Zip Solution
  • Open (Shell)
  • Edit (Shell)

Over a million downloads!

p.s. I don't know SquaredInfinity, but I am a big fan of the extension and want to share it :)

Agglomerate

Answer 6

I am using the solution outlined in this blog post and so far it is working really well.

I use 3 machines and all of them keep everything in sync, including extensions.

I noticed some oddities if i had VS open on more than one machine at a time, because it writes to the vsSettings file when you close Visual Studio. Other than that, it works great.

UPDATE: Productivity Power Tools doesnt play so nicely, as it requires the extension to be installed in the 'per user' location to function correctly.

Homunculus

Answer 7

Since Visual Studio 2015, settings are saved and synchronized to all computers automatically. More details here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/ide/synchronized-settings-in

Esker