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I checked the solution file and the project file, and can not find anything related to this setting. When people get latest version from TFS source control, they always see the 'loaded' status, which is not really what I want.

Kirill Kobelev
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Narutokk
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4 Answers4

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This information is stored in the solution user options file (.suo) which you can find in the same directory as the solution file. As the name implies this is user specific information which means sharing this across the team will be difficult because then everyone will need to live with the same options and store files in the exact location because the .suo file contains full paths.

Ed Hintz
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  • i compare that .suo file before and after 'unload project' action, it turns out to be the same file. so i guess this settings is not stored there. – Narutokk Sep 07 '12 at 10:06
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    my fault, i forget to save the whole solution. it 's indeed saved in suo file. – Narutokk Sep 07 '12 at 10:15
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    That's a bummer I have a need to check this option into source control too since we have code that our solution depends upon that is outside of the solution that only a special subgroup of developers ever needs to touch or have licenses for. But its really inconvenient to have to search within two solutions if they could be merged with key projects being unloaded so that by default others don't have to bother with that code but still leave the option for others to easily take a look at. – jxramos Aug 01 '14 at 21:52
4

For anyone else coming here with Visual Studio 2019, the unloading of projects is no longer saved in the SUO (at least in my experience). To save your unloaded project settings, you want to create a solution filter file (.slnf) which is the same as your solution file (.sln) except that it stores which projects you want loaded or not when opening the solution. Once created, you will double-click the .snlf file instead of the .sln file in order to load your filtered projects.

To create the solution filter file you can follow the instructions at this link or follow the summary below:

  1. Open your solution (.sln)
  2. Unload the projects that you want filtered out
  3. Right-click on the solution from within the Solution Explorer
  4. Choose Save As Solution Filter
  5. Choose a location to save the file (I saved it right next my .sln file)

This will add the .slnf to your recently opened solutions list so you can either open from there going forward or navigate to the .slnf file and double-click it.

If you still want to see your unloaded projects after opening the .slnf, highlight the solution from within the Solution Explorer and click the Show All Files icon.

hvaughan3
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    But after following steps 1 & 2, you can close VS and open your sln again and have the same projects unloaded, right? So though an slnf may be one way to _persist_ those settings, I don't believe you've answered where they're saved before performing steps 3-5. (I don't have an suo file in the same dir, so you're right about them moving, but _moved to where!?_ `;^D`) – ruffin Aug 17 '21 at 18:41
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    It appears `.suo` has moved to the `./.vs` directory, for me `.vs\[SolutionName]\v16\ `. slnfs have their own in the form `.vs\[SlnfName].slnf\v16\ `. My changes when I change what's loaded. YMMV. – ruffin Aug 17 '21 at 18:51
  • I am using Visual Studio 2022 (i.e., version 17). The `.suo` file is still present, in `.vs\[SolutionName]\v17`, but now - as this answer states - you can also control which projects are loaded using `*.slnf` files. These files can be named anyhow and placed anywhere on the computer, not necessarily next to `*.sln`. – Alex Fainshtein Jun 09 '23 at 01:57
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Base on this if you want to share your load/unload setting via source control you can use solution filter file which is .slnf extension. So when you open the .slnf file instead of .sln file you will see the filtered project are loaded.

Alireza Ahmadi
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0

On MacOS with Visual Studio 2022 for Mac (i.e. v17.0 Preview, "Visual Studio Community 2022 for Mac Preview") I do not see either .sln nor .slnf files.

I observe that unloaded projects are saved in folder /.vs/[SolutionName]/xs/UserPrefs.xml. And when I close Visual Studio 2022 for Mac, I see that UserPrefs.xml is saved.

UserPrefs.xml Snippet:

<DisabledProjects>
  <String>...</String>
</DisabledProjects>
Michael R
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