Visual Studio Hacks

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Chapter 4, Customizing Visual Studio

#30 Hack the Registry

HACK

directly through the registry, like the recent file and projects list [Hack #13] and

custom file extensions

[Hack #29], can now be edited using a power toy like

VSTweak.

Some settings can still be edited only through the registry, and if there is

something you can’t find in any of the power toys or on the Tools

➝

Options screen, then the next place to look is the registry.

Moving Registry Settings

Moving registry settings is a fairly simple procedure, but one that can often

be fraught with danger. A good rule of thumb to follow is to move only set-

tings that you understand. Your instinct might be to copy the entire settings

tree, and while this might work, it can also cause some issues (especially

with recent file and project lists, since those file and projects might not be in

the same place and could cause huge delays when opening Visual Studio).

To move registry settings from one machine to another, all you need to do is

open regedit (Start

➝ Run ➝ type regedit) on your machine, find the group

of settings you want to copy, then right-click on the parent key and choose

Export. This is shown in Figure 4-18.

After clicking Export, you will be prompted for a place to save a .reg file.

After saving this file, you can move it to another machine—when you dou-

ble-click on the file on the new machine, you will be prompted to confirm

that