[scmartindale]

Before I start: this is a Microsoft product forum, we have forums for operating systems, forums for Office and even forums for coding but we don't have a forum for the Visual Studio line of products. Why not?

Anyway, ...

I am trying, desperately, to stop Visual Studio 2005 from creating its annoying, p***y "Visual Studio 2005" folder in My Documents. (Or, in Vista, just "Documents") I have created a folder for it elsewhere, relocated the settings file, the project templates and item templates and the project default location. I have even removed the default Macro projects (which never work) and created my own one in another location, yet it continues to create that folder on startup. The folder remains permanently empty.

Please, this moronic practise of creating folders in My Documents must be stopped! Why can't all developers be like Mozilla and allow you to relocate your profile?

[rendrag]

couldn't you just set the folder properties to "hidden"? Then at least you wouldn't have to see it

[tap52384]

Visual Studio 2005 is supposed to only create a single folder called "Visual Studio 2005" within your My Documents folder; by default, all projects should be created within that folder unless otherwise specified. Look at your general options to see if that location has been changed.

[nuSharper]

you'll need to make changes in your Registry. if you
wanna give it a shot, go ahead. as you know, playing
with the Registry can have disastrous consequences, so
think thrice before trying this hack. it worked for me,
but i'm using Visual C# Express 2005. also, backup
both Registry keys before you start.

the 2 Registry keys below have REG_EXPAND_SZ values
that reference the location of your "My Documents" folder.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MSDN\8.0
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VCSExpress\8.0

replace said location with a path that points to the
folder you've chosen to hold your VS projects. examples:

D:\Development\VS\
D:\Development\VS\Templates\ItemTemplates

NOTE-1: before you change anything, notice that some of
the paths that appear in those 2 Registry keys end with
a backslash ("\") character. for such keys, make sure
your replacement path also ends with a "\". only use the
ending backslash in those values that contained ending
backslashes originally!

NOTE-2: changes are only needed on those keys i
mentioned. dont worry about any of their "sub-keys".

NOTE-3: these changes might require you to register
VS again. it's unlikely, though. i didnt have to.

This post has been edited by nuSharper: 19 February 2008 - 01:01 PM

[nuSharper]

@scmartindale:

Did you try the Registry hack? Did it work?
You can find more detailed instructions here.

[MHz]

The topic is nearly a month old so perhaps scmartindale has found a solution, but using a junction point comes to mind as an idea to redirect to your other folder and hide the junction point.