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i have installed many third party plugin add-ins in my visual studio.

now i want to run a instance of visual studio without all plugin addons and third party feature

just like mozilla firefox

how i can run visual studio without all plugin or add-ons. are their any method exist like other application

5 Answers5

105

All versions of visual studio can be started with a set of arguments.

Using devenv.exe /SafeMode allows you to run any version of visual studio (devenv.exe) in SafeMode that will disable 3rd party plugins.

You can either run devenv.exe /SafeMode using the command line or by creating a new shortcut. The devenv.exe executable is located in the \Common7\IDE\devenv.exe directory under the directory your visual studio is installed.

You may also want to look at devenv.exe /ResetSkipPkgs if you are having problems.

John
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    Side note: `/SafeMode` will disable TFS as well – Morpheus Dec 19 '14 at 14:41
  • VS2012 had just started showing up (maybe related to installing VS Code) with just the menus and Extensions and Updates menu was showing up all black. Did a /resetsettings without result, then ran with /SafeMode and did some extension updates and not it works OK. Guess there may be case where there is some corruption that /SafeMode can help. In that case try to do some update or install some (any) extension to see if it fixes the issue – George Birbilis May 05 '15 at 00:10
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    If you want to run VS as Admin in Safe Mode (e.g. so IIS projects will load), open up a command prompt as admin and then run `devenv.exe /SafeMode` from there. – deadlydog Sep 11 '15 at 16:17
  • Side note: /SafeMode will disable TestExplorer as well – hB0 Jun 06 '16 at 07:51
  • Side note 2: with /SafeMode switch, ”Team Explorer” will be disabled. Left only with ”Pending changes” and ”Settings” enabled – Svenv Jan 13 '17 at 12:07
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You can run the Visual Studio in safe mode, using the /SafeMode switch from the command line:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" /SafeMode

This will prevent all third-party packages and add-ons from loading. If you find yourself needing to do this frequently, you can even create a new shortcut to Visual Studio and add this switch to the target path so that double-clicking that shortcut automatically opens Visual Studio in safe mode.

Cody Gray - on strike
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    Note: you can use [the developer command prompt](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/tools/developer-command-prompt-for-vs) to launch VS with these commands. Just search for "Developer Command Prompt" in the start menu. Then run `devenv /SafeMode` – Paesano2000 Mar 07 '18 at 15:01
  • @Paesano2000 has the right answer. No need to worry about paths, versions, etc. – Dan Barron Jun 23 '22 at 13:06
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For VS 2017, open a command window (Win+R) and run the following command:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\Common7\IDE\devenv /SafeMode

In 64-bit machine:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\Common7\IDE\devenv /SafeMode

*Change Community with the respective version.

Shimmy Weitzhandler
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  • This is only true for `Community` edition. Replace `Community` in the path with your version (`Professional` or `Enterprise`) – Serj Sagan Aug 16 '18 at 04:12
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A other way is to reset the settings of Visual Studio

D:\VisualStudio2013\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe /resetsettings

In other cases VisualStudio is installed on a different harddrive.

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You have to use /SafeMode switch for devenv.exe.

More at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms241278%28VS.80%29.aspx

MichaelMocko
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