Cannot import window layouts into VS2013 from VS2012

Question

I'm having trouble importing window layouts from Visual Studio 2012 to Visual Studio 2013.

I'm getting this error message, when I try to import *.vssettings file exported from VS2012 to VS2013:

Your settings were imported, but there are some warnings.

Warning 1: Category 'Window Layouts' ({eb4ba109-a9db-4445-bd09-e7604bcdce84}) could not be migrated because the author of the category did not provide support for migration.

I had same problem with importing window layouts from VS2010 to VS2012. I thought there was some kind of breaking change that prevented direct importing, so I just recreated my preferred window layout in VS2012.

So basically I have to recreate my preferred window layout once again in VS2013. Does anyone have any suggestion how to solve this?

By the way, I've tried to reset settings in VS2013 (Tools -> Import and Export Settings -> Reset all settings...) and then try import settings from VS2012, but no change.

Edit: what's weird, is that I can create a window layout in VS2013, export it, reset settings in VS and then import back settings with that window layout and the import is successful (imported window layout gets applied).

Does this mean Microsoft completely dropped support for migrating window layouts from one version of Visual Studio to another? I would understand, if the imported window layout contains layout information for non-existing windows (like VS2012 -> VS2010 import). But standard way of migrating settings (to newer version of software) should be supported, right?

Answer 1

It's a bug in the Visual Studio settings migration feature, the window layouts are actually directly compatible between VS2010/VS2012/VS2013. The solution is actually really easy: Manually export just the window layout from VS2010, change the version number in the file, then import it into VS2013, and it'll work.

For the step by step solution to this problem, do the following:

1. Open Visual Studio 2010
2. From the main menu, select "Tools->Import and Export Settings"
3. Select "Export selected environment settings" and press "Next"
4. Select only the "General Settings->Window Layouts" option from the settings tree, and press "Next"
5. Name the file how you want and select "Finish"
6. Open the exported settings file in a text editor, and change the second line from this: <ApplicationIdentity version="10.0"/> To this: <ApplicationIdentity version="12.0"/> Or set the version string to 11.0 for Visual Studio 2012.
7. Open Visual Studio 2013
8. From the main menu, select "Tools->Import and Export Settings"
9. Select "Import selected environment settings" and press "Next"
10. Save your current settings if desired, and press "Next"
11. Select "Browse" and locate the modified settings file, then press "Next"
12. Press "Finish"

I came across this question while searching for a solution myself. I couldn't find an answer anywhere, so hopefully this will help anyone else who comes across this problem.

EDIT: I've now seen a case with a colleague where there was something in his window layout settings that wasn't directly compatible with Visual Studio 2012, so this solution failed for him. If you get errors migrating your window layout, I'd suggest resorting to "slicing and dicing" the window layout to narrow down which part(s) are causing the error.