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Anyone had a need ( or more importantly, know how ) to move a Visual Studio Add-in from one machine to another? Of course it would be easy if I had access to the .vsix, but that's in a bit bucket somewhere. I tried poking around the registry and File Explorer, but didn't see anything likely.

Doing a Tools / Import and Export Settings got part of it - there's a placeholder on the toolbar that has the add-in's name, but none of the buttons show, and, unlike the original machine, the new machine's dropdown to Add / Remove buttons shows nothing.

CindyLu
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I recommend using the guide - Syncing Visual Studio Extensions and Settings with Dropbox :

http://www.larswilhelmsen.com/2012/01/08/syncing-visual-studio-extensions-and-settings-with-dropbox/

and complete it as you did with the Import and Export Settings (as noted in the guide too).

Other than that, there is not VS2013 extension for exporting VS extension, the only extention which work well is for VS2010 - ExtensionSync.

Source: https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/dbaf0ac9-fb7b-4fb3-b34d-ea2269276d3c

DeJaVo
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  • DeJaVo - thank you for your response. I may have misunderstood your meaning, or vice-versa, but it isn't the _extensions_ I'm trying to get at ( although that is definitely useful - ExtensionSync is a great thing for the toolbelt ), but it's the _add-ins_. "Extensions and Updates" is one item on the Tools drop-down and Add-In manager shows something entirely different. Any thoughts on pulling Add-Ins? Thanks! – CindyLu Jul 25 '15 at 15:37
  • Your question is how to move a Visual Studio Add-in from one machine to another?  I see that you meant differently.... Can you explain? – DeJaVo Jul 25 '15 at 16:15
  • Thanks for sticking with it DeJaVo. Yes, good question - there is definitely confusion on the differences between Add-Ins and the Extension Manager - there's a post at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2758244/differences-between-visual-studio-2010-add-in-manager-and-extension-manager that attempts to clear it up. From that, it looks like the Extension Manager is the more flexible and robust method, but Add-Ins are still supported. – CindyLu Jul 25 '15 at 16:46
  • I've found this article helpful - http://www.mztools.com/articles/2008/MZ2008001.aspx – DeJaVo Jul 25 '15 at 18:21
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First you need to find an .AddIn file that declares an add-in for Visual Studio. Usually it is located in the "c:\Users[user_name]\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Addins\" directory, but can be in any Add-in File Paths listed in Options - Environment - Add-in Security.

In the .AddIn file there is an Assembly entry that contains a .dll name that implements the add-in.

You need to copy both files (.AddIn and .dll) to a new machine, plus optional auxiliary add-in files.

(BTW .vsix is not used to deploy add-ins.)

Sergey Vlasov
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