Project Linker extension will not install on Visual Studio 2013 Pro

Question

I am trying to do a tutorial for Xamarin in Visual Studio, which can be found here, which says that in oreder to complete the tutorial the Project Linker extension is required. Unfortunately when I download it and try to install it I get the following error:

Installation Failed

The installation was unable to install the extension to all the selected products. For >more information, click on the install log link at the bottom of the dialog.

This extension is not installable on any currently installed products.

The install log is the following:

2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM - Microsoft VSIX Installer
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM - -------------------------------------------
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM - Initializing Install...
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM - Extension Details...
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -    Identifier      : 777046b2-7ee9-4e1e-8c34-5f2424eaabf1
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -    Name            : Project Linker 2012
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -    Author          : Jonkers
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -    Version         : 1.5
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -    Description     : This tool helps to automatically create                 and maintain links from a source project to a target project to share code that is common     to Silverlight and WPF. Therefore, shared code can be written once and built for the     target environment.
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -    Locale          : en-US
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -    MoreInfoURL     : 
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -    InstalledByMSI  : False
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -    SupportedFrameworkVersionRange : [4.5]
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM - 
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -    Supported Products : 
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -        Microsoft.VisualStudio.Pro
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -            Version : [11.0]
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM - 
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -    References      : 
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -        ---------------------------------------------------    ----
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -        Identifier   : Microsoft.VisualStudio.MPF.11.0
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -        Name         : Visual Studio MPF 11.0
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -        Version      : [11.0]
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -        MoreInfoURL  : 
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM -        Nested       : No
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM - 
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM - 
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM - Searching for applicable products...
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM - Found installed product - Microsoft Visual Studio Professional         2013
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM - Found installed product - Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Shell     (Integrated)
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM - Found installed product - Global Location
2014-01-03 12:18:24 PM - VSIXInstaller.NoApplicableSKUsException: This extension is not     installable on any currently installed products.
at VSIXInstaller.App.InitializeInstall()
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.InnerInvoke()
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute()

I then tried to install the package via the built in extension manager of Visual Studio and there were no search results for "Project Linker".

I went back to the website and notice that the extension only supports Visual Studio 2010. I looked around and found another one called Project Linker 2012 that only supports Visual Studio 2012.

So my question is two fold. Firstly, is there any way to get either of these to install on VS2013 and secondly, if not, is there another way for me to link the projects as required by the tutorial.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

The main idea, is to download the .vsix file for Project Linker 2012 and manually update it's content allowing it to be installed in VS2013.

Q&A page of the extension actually contains detailed steps: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/273dbf44-55a1-4ac6-a1f3-0b9741587b9a

Here they are:

1. Download vsix
2. Change extension from vsix to zip
3. Unzip the file
4. Open extension.vsixmanifest in text editor
5. Change the line <InstallationTarget Id="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Pro" Version="11.0" /> to <InstallationTarget Id="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Pro" Version="12.0" />
6. Zip all files back7. Rename to .vsix
7. Double click the file