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Reopen Documents on Solution load not working since upgrade to 16.9

Art Hansen 566 Reputation points
2021-03-13T12:46:46.1+00:00

Since upgrading to 16.9 VS is not reopening on Solution load the files that were open at shutdown (I always use File -> Exit).

I've verified "Reopen Documents on Solution load" is checked in Options and the solution's .vs folder has been deleted (and successfully rebuilt automatically by VS).

While my solution is small (only about 60 files) it is still quite irritating to start a VS session reopening a number of related winform designer & code documents plus the supporting class library and sql/textfile connection documents. In addition to being a waste of time I have come rely on the auto relopening to immediately refresh my memory regarding exactly what I was working on at shutdown.

Any ideas in addition to what I've already tried will be much appreciated.
Art.

Windows Forms
Windows Forms
A set of .NET Framework managed libraries for developing graphical user interfaces.
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Visual Studio
Visual Studio
A family of Microsoft suites of integrated development tools for building applications for Windows, the web and mobile devices.
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Accepted answer
  1. Art Hansen 566 Reputation points
    2021-03-18T08:21:41.31+00:00

    @Dylan Zhu-MSFT Using the built-in VS problem reporting (Thanx Dylan) I discovered there have been over a 128,000 reported incidents of this bug.

    According the incident being worked (1317364) this is supposed to be fixed in version 16.10 which is currently classified as Pending Preview Release. Not being privy to the release roadmap I don't know the target date for pushing out a generally available 16.10.

    Until that release is available the only partially viable work-around is to close any "tear-off tab" windows prior to Exiting the solution/VS. That will at least enable re-loading of docs in the main VS window on the next solution load.

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  1. Ralf Ellersiek 0 Reputation points
    2023-02-23T06:50:50.8066667+00:00

    I still have this problem too.

    It occures by random and VS (2022, enterprise, 17.4.4) didn't hung or crashed.

    The loaded solution is perfectly loaded, only the last time opened files are not reopen.

    And yes: I've verified "Reopen Documents on Solution load" is checked

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  2. Art Hansen 566 Reputation points
    2022-09-24T12:42:56.827+00:00

    OP here - I'm now on VS 2022 & had this problem recur yesterday morning. so the problem still exists in 2022. When I started VS it hung at the loading progress bar and had to close VS via Task Manager. 2nd time starting I'd lost most of the open files from the workspace, the horizontal window divider in the main window and the primary "tear away" window.

    I updated VS to the most recent version -- 17.3.4 -- and rebuilt my workspace (I typically have 30-35 files open). After exiting and restarting VS everything loaded as expected This morning everything again loaded fine.

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  3. Ron Clabo 36 Reputation points
    2021-10-08T15:16:17.31+00:00

    I found a fix!

    I'm experiencing the same issue with VS 2019 and have been experiencing it for maybe months. Today I finally decided to look into it because having VS forget the windows I had open everyday when it launches is sooooo frustrating and time wasting. I'm running the latest version which is currently 16.11.4 (just updated a few days ago). I am running the Community edition but I suspect the issue is systemic and probably occurs in all editions.

    By deleting the .vs hidden directory inside by solution folder and forcing VS to rebuild the info it keeps in that folder (it rebuilds it automatically if it's been deleted), now VS is working like normal and when I close VS with several windows open, it will open them back up on next launch.

    7 people found this answer helpful.
  4. Art Hansen 566 Reputation points
    2021-03-17T06:43:02.717+00:00

    @Michael Gossett Thanx Michael - your input prompted me to look at the problem differently.

    As preface, I just upgraded/updated to 16.9.2 (that's the 3rd in about a week so I strongly suspect the upgrade development team either missed their deadlines or lost testing personnel) and it still hasn't fixed the problem.

    2nd preface, this is NOT restricted to a single solution as I erroneously stated above. It is confirmed to be at the VS level.

    I do not run multiple monitors but instead have a single large screen on which I can see more than two full size windows side-by-side. My setup is [1] main VS window: split horizontally w/code in top and winforms in bottom, [2] a 2nd window equal in size to the main VS window: not split, contains code, and [3] a 3rd small window displaying errors etc. & TODO content.

    Exiting VS with all 3 windows open results in only windows [1]and [3] being displayed and NO documents being reloaded on VS restart/solution load.

    Closing window [2] prior to VS exit results in open documents being reloaded per expectation on VS restart/solution load.

    This was tested on multiple solutions with identical results regardless of solution scope or scale.

    TO MSFT READERS: I understand that users of the Community version neither pay for not are entitled to tech support for a "free" product but I still think this should be escalated up thru your management chain. This seems to clearly be a bug and a fairly obvious one.