How to remove ApexSQL menus from Visual Studio?

Question

I installed the free version of ApexSQL which is awesome in SSMS, but I really don't want all those menus in Visual Studio. I went to add-in manager and unchecked them, but the Startup column is checked and disabled so every time I restart Visual Studio they come back.

Is it possible to permanently remove the ApexSQL menus from Visual Studio?

Answer 1

If you have ApexSql installed and you don't want those pesky menus in Visual Studio do 2 things.

1. In Visual Studio, go to Tools > Add-in Manager and uncheck the ApexSql addins. Close Visual Studio.
2. In Windows 7, there's a hidden folder C:\ProgramData. In Windows Explorer go to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\MSEnvShared\AddIns folder. Edit each of the *.MsvsLoader.Addin files and set <LoadBehavior> to 0. If you can't save the files directly, you'll have to save the files to a different location (desktop maybe) and then copy them back into C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\MSEnvShared\AddIns because there's some Admin privilege required.

Now when you restart VS those ApexSQL menus should be gone