Resetting Visual Studio 2005 to Original Settings

NOTE: Issuing the following command will clear any custom and environmental settings.

You may come across a situation where your Visual Studio 2005 Environment is non-functional in one manner or another. This recently happened to me when I was trying to reset the environment to the General Environment settings using the Import and Export Settings Wizard. During the process I encountered an error which left the IDE in a state in which it would try to Initialize the Toolbox and after a few seconds close Visual Studio. Thus I was unable to access any of the ToolBox controls.

After a quick search I came across a command that you run from the Visual Studio Command Prompt to reset the IDE to its original install settings. If after exhausting all possible repair options you need to run this command please backup any custom and/or environmental settings you do not want to lose prior to its use.

Then perform the following:

1. Click Start and then select All Programs.
2. Select Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.
3. Select Visual Studio Tools and then Visual Studio 2005 Command Prompt.
4. Enter devenv /resetuserdata.

You will not receive any confirmation of reset completion, so you can use task manager to monitor the devenv process for its completion.