Debug VSIX created in VS 2017 using the VS 2015 Experimental Instance

Question

I have a VISX package that I compile using VS 2017. The package applies to VS 2015 & 2017 (it happily installs and runs in a production environment on both version of VS).

When I debug the project in VS 2017, it launches the VS 2017 experimental instance. However, I would like to be able to debug it using the VS 2015 experimental instance.

How do I install my VSIX into the VS 2015 experimental instance?

Answer 1

1. Since once the extension is built it is deployed to the Visual Studio Experimental Instance of the version whose SDK was used to build the project, you need to remove the NuGet package Microsoft.VSSDK.BuildTools version 15.0 and use version 14.0 for Visual Studio 2015.
2. You need to go to the Properties page of the project, Debug tab, and set the Start external program field to the “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe” executable of Visual Studio 2015.