I am the user (not the developer) of a Visual Studio 2022 extension which correctly uses the built-in WritableSettingsStore to store its settings (I verified this by looking at the extension's source code).

After extensively playing around with the extension's settings, I would like to restore it to its original state. Uninstalling and reinstalling didn't help, my modified settings were retained. I also don't want to reset all my Visual Studio settings or remove my complete user profile, I just want to reset this one extension.

Hence my question:

Where does the WritableSettingsStore physically store a Visual Studio Extensions's settings?

Environment settings for Visual Studio

• Article
• 01/12/2024

In this article

In Visual Studio, you can optimize your development environment for the type of development work you do by selecting Tools > Import and Export Settings Wizard. From this wizard, you can choose a specific collection of settings that best matches your development environment. Each collection of settings optimizes elements such as keyboard shortcuts, window layouts, project and item templates, and command visibility.

The following settings collections are available:

• General
• JavaScript
• Visual Basic
• Visual C#
• Visual C++
• Web Development
• Web Development (Code Only)

Import and export settings

You can use the wizard to export your own environment settings or import specific categories of settings. These settings can include ones that you've previously saved or received from someone else.

Reset all settings

You can also use the wizard to reset the environment to one of the default collections of settings. Here's how.

1. From the menu bar, select Tools > Import and Export Settings.

2. In the Import and Export Settings Wizard, select Reset all settings, and then select Next.

3. On the Save Current Settings page, select either Yes, save my current settings or No, just reset settings, overwriting my current settings, and then select Next.

4. On the Choose a Default Collection of Settings page, select a collection, and then select Finish.

5. On the Reset Complete page, select Close.

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