Where Does Visual Studio Store Settings?
Visual Studio settings, .vssettings exports and project defaults on Windows, and how to migrate them between machines.
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Visual Studio splits personal setup across two trees. Documents/Visual Studio 2022 holds projects, templates and settings exports. AppData holds the live caches the IDE actually reads, including the privateregistry hive.
For migration, the supported route is an export, not a folder copy. Use Tools > Import and Export Settings to make a .vssettings file. Copying the live AppData caches between machines causes strange behavior and is best avoided. Solo developers can also sync settings through their Microsoft account, which restores layout on sign in.
Where Visual Studio stores this, by platform
C:\Users\[Username]\Documents\Visual Studio 2022\Settings
Default home for exported .vssettings files. The version number in the path changes per release (2019, 2022). Live state sits under %appdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio instead.
Frequently asked questions
How do I back up Visual Studio settings?
Use Tools > Import and Export Settings > Export selected environment settings and save the .vssettings file somewhere safe. On the new machine run the same wizard and choose Import to restore fonts, keybinds and layout.
Where are Visual Studio projects by default?
In Documents/Visual Studio 2022/Projects unless you changed it under Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > Locations. Templates live in a Templates sibling folder next to Projects.
Notice an outdated path? Let us know.