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Missing menu options in Visual Studio 2005?

We recently upgraded to Windows Vista, using a new standardized image containing a standard set of developer tools. When I started Visual Studio the first time, I just accepted the default options. I noticed today that the Exceptions... option was missing from the Debug menu:

Debug menu without Exceptions option

Initially, I found this to be a bit of a mystery. How could an important menu item like that just not be there? Was it some sort of configuration issue? After looking into this a bit, I found a post that explained that this is usually due to Visual Studio profile issues. Using the information in this post, I was able to get the option back, as follows.

The issue is that the default profile I selected when I first started Visual Studio is different than the standard C# profile. Some non-C# profiles hide more advanced menu options to make Visual Studio appear simpler. In order to get the menu items back, I needed to change profiles.

In Visual Studio, first click Tools, then click Import and Export Settings... as shown below:

Tools Import and Export Settings option

In the Import and Export Settings Wizard, click Import selected environment settings, and click Next>:

Import and Export settings wizard

Next, tell it to save your existing settings, and click Next >:

Import and Export settings wizard step 2

Now tell it to import the Visual C# Development Settings (the post I found mentioned that everything is available in that settings configuration) and click Next >:

Import and Export settings wizard step 3 - choose new settings

The last step is to choose the settings to import--I took the defaults here, as compromising my environment, computer, or data didn't sound like good options: 

Import and Export settings wizard step 4 - choose settings to import

This completed successfully:

Import and Export settings wizard step 5 -- complete

And now, the Debug menu contains the Exceptions... menu item, as well as a few other additional items:

Debug menu WITH Exceptions option

Note that now all the fonts and other customized settings are all back to the default values, so I need to update these by hand. I could have selected only some of the items in the Visual C# Development Profile to import, but I frankly don't know what some of the items mean, so I'd rather just rebuild my settings around the C# profile.

Going forward, I've exported a copy of my settings, so that I can easily get back to a known good configuration.

 
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Sunday, 22 Jul 2007 10:57 by Re: Missing menu options in Visual Studio 2005?
Keith, I've run across that problem myself, but learning the keyboard shortcut (ctrl-D,E) works even if the menu option isn't available. That's come in quite handy when helping someone else debug a problem without resetting their configuration. Adrian

Saturday, 28 Jul 2007 08:17 by Re: Missing menu options in VS 2005
Thanks - my problem was missing the search box and several of the handy icons (comment/uncomment), etc. Couldn't figure it out -- this took care of the problem. Thanks. Jim

Thursday, 2 Aug 2007 11:50 by Re: Missing menu options in Visual Studio 2005?
Much thanks for this, no doubt it saved me hours of time!

Friday, 3 Aug 2007 12:38 by Re: Missing menu options in Visual Studio 2005?
Thank you, thank you, thank you

Friday, 17 Aug 2007 04:09 by Re: Missing menu options in Visual Studio 2005?
Thank you! In particular, I was missing the debug step-into and step-out icons. Wierd that they would not be installed initially.

Wednesday, 22 Aug 2007 12:38 by Re: Missing menu options in Visual Studio 2005?
Thanks for this... It set me on the right track to fixing my problem. However, I found you don't need to throw away your all settings if you only want the Exceptions menu item back. Here's how: Select Tools | Customize.... Click on the Commands tab. Select the Debug category in the Categories box. Find the Exceptions... command item, then drag it to the Debug menu at the top of the application, dropping it in the appropriate place in the menu.

Friday, 24 Aug 2007 04:02 by Saved my day
Thanks buddy

Thursday, 30 Aug 2007 11:15 by Re: Missing menu options in Visual Studio 2005?
We've run into this with a 2005 install on an XP machine... Thanks for the work around. JJ

Thursday, 6 Sep 2007 01:16 by Awesome!
Thank you! You just saved me from an entire re-install! Very well explained.

Monday, 17 Sep 2007 09:32 by Toolbox tools missing?
when i click to toolbox , it shows all controls but all disalbled. and when i click to the designer view it is not opening. with regards Syed asif Uddin.

Tuesday, 18 Sep 2007 09:12 by RE: Toolbox tool missing?
Hmmm--I'm not sure what would cause the toolbox tools to be disabled, as well prevent the designer from opening. You should likely try the simple things first: make sure you aren't debugging, restart Visual Studio, and/or restart Windows. If that doesn't help, you might need to do something more drastic, such as reinstall Visual Studio to see if that fixes it. Hope this helps, Keith

Thursday, 18 Oct 2007 06:09 by Gr8!
This was exactly what i was looking 4.

Wednesday, 24 Oct 2007 11:17 by Thanks
Thanks, it solved my problem. The same thing can be done a bit easier though: you can select 'Reset all settings' and then choose to reset to the default C# development settings.

Sunday, 24 Feb 2008 10:40 by Debug but no Release
On my IDE, I have debug, but no Release after importing.... How can I get Release?

Monday, 25 Feb 2008 09:44 by RE: Debug but no Release
This is often displayed and set in the Standard toolbar--I'm guessing that for some reason it was no longer shown when you updated. Try clicking Toolbars on the View menu in Visual Studio, and then click Standard. This should fix it. If not, you could try setting the build configuration by going to the Build menu, and clicking Configuration Manager. Hope this helps! --Keith

Tuesday, 20 May 2008 02:21 by many thanx
I'd been struggling for days to find out why the Exceptions options was missing. your solution worked like a charm, thanx again

Tuesday, 15 Jul 2008 03:49 by It solved my issues
Missed F7 to build, the search box in the standard toolbar, some menu's and some menu item ordering was strange... Thanks for the help! PS: This way also solves toolbox icon-problems which I had previously under XP.

Tuesday, 26 Aug 2008 09:03 by Andrés
Excellent post, thank you so much!!!

Monday, 22 Sep 2008 04:44 by AJ
Excellent advice, many thanks!

Thursday, 23 Oct 2008 05:43 by Shaun
I agree... a most excellent post! I was missing several options on my Build menu. Thank you!

Wednesday, 26 Nov 2008 01:04 by Jaxk
Thanks. The missing buttons have cause me so much pain.

Thursday, 4 Dec 2008 08:59 by Wolfy
Thanks - great tip. Thought I was going mad!

Wednesday, 17 Jun 2009 05:53 by Sue
Ah!! Thanks so much!!

Tuesday, 4 Aug 2009 09:55 by Mangesh Patil
Very Very nice post. Thanks a Ton

Monday, 2 Nov 2009 05:46 by Omar
Thanks a million, it helped alot!!

Monday, 15 Feb 2010 10:37 by TamusJRoyce
As Omar mentioned, thanks a million. Can't believe Microsoft would ever intend to hide the ability to break on all exceptions.

Tuesday, 30 Mar 2010 06:55 by Matt
Thanks for that! Can't believe how little information is available about this - both in the help files and on the net. Seems to be a pivotal component that MS have almost completely ignored in their documentation.

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