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Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop puts a bunch of user-specific settings in C:\Users\MYUSER\Documents\Visual Studio 2013. I don't like this as it messes with my home directory structure, so I have used the Tools > Options dialog to move the majority of these options outside my Documents folder.

However, I cannot find a way to move the StartPages subdirectory, so C:\Users\MYUSER\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\StartPages gets re-created every time I start Visual Studio. Annoying!

Can someone help me figure out how to tell Visual Studio to use a different folder?

This is what I have tried so far:

  • Look through Tools > Options, including the uniquely unhelpful Environment > Startup options page.
  • This post, which relates to VS 2010.
  • Use regedit to search for the following (in keys/values/data):
    • "My Documents\visual studio 2013\StartPages"
    • "Documents\visual studio 2013\StartPages"
    • "StartPages"
  • Use Notepad++ to find-in-files for "StartPages" in %APPDATA%\Microsoft\WDExpress\12.0 (no results).
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1 Answers1

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For Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop (WDExpress 12), change the following registry key:

`HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WDExpress\12.0\VisualStudioLocation`

Mine was originally set to "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\visual studio 2013". I fixed it by deleting "Documents\" and I was able to fix the sloppy lower-casing at the same time!

To the best of my knowledge, there's no way to set this value in the GUI, which I consider to be sloppy as hell, especially for a developer tool! So ignore the negative nancies like these ones who say it can't be done and regedit yourself back to sanity.

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  • Yep, this is the way (not just for Express, either). Note that if the value of `12.0\MyDocumentsLocation` is not set to your actual my documents path (or has a trailing slash, ugh), then VS will "helpfully" reset the VisualStudioLocation, stomping on your custom path. Keep this in mind if ever you move your My Documents folder. See also my [related answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/21102142/21475). – Cameron Mar 30 '14 at 21:14
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    for anybody finding this question while searching for the full (non-Express) version of Visual Studio 2013, the regedit key that contains this setting is `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0` – mdelvecchio Aug 03 '14 at 16:46
  • This does not work for me. Using VS express for windows 2013. The is no such registry key. Under WDExpress I only have 12.0_config\ and that does not contain a key called VisualStudioLocation.... Possibly because my user folder does no have the documents folder anymore. – jiggunjer Jun 15 '15 at 11:05
  • nvm, another restart and the registry appeared :) – jiggunjer Jun 15 '15 at 11:30