Visual Studio - Is there any way to make the "Output" and "Error List" windows not appear after a debugging session?

Question

It just occurred to me, after years of closing these two windows after a debugging session, that there may be a way to turn them off. I generally have the output window open while debugging and only check the error list periodically for warnings, and can always get to them if I want them anyway. Hoping someone else may know of a way to stop the default behavior?

Answer 1

Visual Studio remembers the window layout for coding and debugging separately, so removing the output window while you are debugging will not affect the "coding" state - you need to close the output window before you debug or it will reappear when debugging finishes.

In Tools>Options, Projects and Solutions, there are options "Always show error list if build finishes with errors" and "Show output window when build starts" which cause the error/output windows to be shown automatically just before you start debugging. These could be the culprits for adding an error/output window that then reappears when you exit debugging mode.

I have the output window "dockable" and pinned open. When I want to see it I use ctrl+alt+O, and to get rid of it I click into it and shift-escape. The output window "magically" disappears whenever I dont want it, but if I pay close attention I can see that I'm hitting the hotkey automatically myself :-)