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Converting VS2010 Solution to VS2008

By , 9 Feb 2012
 
If you are working with VS 2010 (any edition) and cannot open your 2010 solution on VS 2008, then just follow these 3 steps:
 
For <PROJECT_NAME>.sln:
 
  1. Open the solution file in your favorite text editor (example: Notepad++).
  2. Find the following:
    Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 11.00.
    # Visual Studio 2010.
    Replace with:
    Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 10.00. (I)
    # Visual Studio 2008. (II, optional)
 
For <Project_name >.csproj/vbproj:
 
  1. Open project file in your favorite text editor (example: Notepad++).
  2. Find the following:
    <Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">.
    Replace with:
    <Project ToolsVersion="3.5" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">. (III)
That's it.
Now you can open your solution file on VS2008.
Reverse of this will enable VS2008 solution to open in VS2010.
 
EDIT


After these changes, you may receive the below error:
---------------------------
Microsoft Visual Studio
---------------------------
Unable to read the project file 'XXX.csproj'. 
 
C:\Project path\XXX.csproj(89,11): The imported project "C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" was not found. Confirm that the path in the <Import> declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk.
---------------------------
OK   Cancel   
---------------------------
To fix this error, just change the VS version(v10.0 to v9.0) in your <Project_name >.csproj/vbproj file, that's all.
 
Good luck with it.
 
Regards,
ABHISHEK DEY

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GeneralMy vote of 5memberNaVeN Kumar7 May '13 - 23:14 
GeneralMy vote of 4membermohammad sharegh18 Apr '13 - 1:55 
GeneralRe: I agree that many have appreciated it. Don't know why. My po...memberpietvredeveld10 Feb '12 - 21:18 
GeneralRe: I agree that many have appreciated it. Don't know why. My po...memberrakesh19889 Oct '12 - 2:32 
GeneralRe: I agree that many have appreciated it. Don't know why. My po...memberGPUToaster™6 Nov '12 - 19:42 
GeneralReason for my vote of 5 good one.membernikhi _singh27 Feb '12 - 18:45 
GeneralSince Visual Studio 2010 works much better than 2008 (assumi...memberPhilippe Mori10 Feb '12 - 13:23 
GeneralRe: Since Visual Studio 2010 works much better than 2008 (assumi...memberBrook Monroe21 Jan '13 - 4:11 
GeneralReason for my vote of 2 Nice to know but seems useless to me...memberpietvredeveld9 Feb '12 - 10:23 
Reason for my vote of 2
Nice to know but seems useless to me. Never had any reason to downgrade a project.
GeneralRe: Hi pietvredeveld, I appreciate what you think. FYI This tric...memberGPUToaster™10 Feb '12 - 5:37 
GeneralReason for my vote of 5 nice one.I was really searching for ...membernikhi _singh8 Feb '12 - 23:11 
GeneralAdded a fix in your Tip/Trick, do further changes if you wan...mvpthatraja24 Jan '12 - 19:20 
GeneralRe: Thanks thatraja.memberGPUToaster™24 Jan '12 - 20:07 
GeneralReason for my vote of 1 Excellent !!!memberMember 189751120 Dec '11 - 23:43 
GeneralRe: You might want to change your vote to 4/5. I am guessing its...memberGPUToaster™24 Jan '12 - 20:08 
GeneralReason for my vote of 5 Reason for vote of 5 Nice tips. Like...mvpRaviRanjankr15 Dec '11 - 10:20 
GeneralReason for my vote of 5 Nice!membernormsall14 Dec '11 - 3:21 
Generalhi i tried this .. and my solution file which was unrecognis...membergayathri 216 Nov '11 - 0:45 
GeneralsuperbmemberSanjeevSingh15 Nov '11 - 0:22 
GeneralCan you be more specific? That would help us in figuring out...memberGPUToaster™6 Nov '11 - 18:27 
Generalhi friends i tried this but i could not convert from vs2010...memberMalarGayu3 Nov '11 - 15:15 
GeneralRe: Can you be more specific? That would help us in figuring out...memberGPUToaster™7 Nov '11 - 18:07 
GeneralMy 5membertheanil28 Oct '11 - 8:05 
Generalgood Dear thank youmemberashishjoshi11 Oct '11 - 22:51 
GeneralReason for my vote of 4 Good Articlemembermandar130515 Aug '11 - 21:58 

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