Proper way to rename solution and directories in Visual Studio

Question

I have a rather involved Visual Studio solution  2010  but it shouldn t matter  that I need to rename   I want to rename the folders to match the new solution name  but I can t figure out a way to refactor the folder names automatically  and going through every single project file will be painful   Is there an official way to do this  Alternatively  and much less preferably   are there free tools to accomplish this

User · Answer

To rename a solution   In Solution Explorer  right-click the project  select Rename  and enter a new name   In Solution Explorer  right-click the project and select Properties  On the Application tab  change the  quot Assembly name quot  and  quot Default namespace quot    In the main cs file  or any other code files   rename the namespace declaration to use the new name  For this right-click the namespace and select Refactor  gt  Rename enter a new name  For example  namespace WindowsFormsApplication1  Change the AssemblyTitle and AssemblyProduct in Properties AssemblyInfo cs   assembly  AssemblyTitle  quot New Name Here quot     assembly  AssemblyDescription  quot  quot     assembly  AssemblyConfiguration  quot  quot     assembly  AssemblyCompany  quot  quot     assembly  AssemblyProduct  quot New Name Here quot     assembly  AssemblyCopyright  quot Copyright     2013 quot     assembly  AssemblyTrademark  quot  quot     assembly  AssemblyCulture  quot  quot      Delete bin and obj directories physically   Rename the project physical folder directory   Open the SLN file  within notepad or any editor  and change the path to the project   Clean and Rebuild the project

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Manually edit  sln file  This method is entirely aimed at renaming the directory for the project  as viewed in Windows Explorer   This method does not suffer from the problems in the Remove add project file method below  references disappearing   but it can result in problems if your project is under source control  see notes below   This is why step 2  backup  is so important    Close Visual Studio   Create a backup of your  sln file  you can always roll back   Imagine you want to rename directory Project1 to Project2  If not using source control  rename the folder from Project1 to Project2 using Windows Explorer  If using source control  rename the folder from Project1 to Project2 using the functions supplied by source control  This preserves the history of the file  For example  with TortoiseSVN  right click on the file  select TortoiseSVN    Rename   In the  sln file  edit all instances of Project1 to be Project2  using a text editor like NotePad  Restart Visual Studio  and everything will work as before  but with the project in a different directory    You can also see renaming solution manually or post which describes this manual process   Advantages   You can make the directory within Windows Explorer match the project name within the solution  This method does not remove any references from other projects to this file  an advantage over the Remove add project file method  see my other answer below     Warnings   It s important to back everything up into a  zip file before renaming anything  as this method can create issues with source control  If your project is under source control  it may create issues if you rename files or  directories outside of source control  using Windows Explorer   Its preferable to rename the file using the source control framework itself  if you can  to preserve the history of that file  check out the context menu on a right click - it may have a function to rename the file     Update 2014-11-02  ReSharper has added an automated method for achieving the same result as the manual method above  If the namespace is underlined with a squiggly blue line  click on the action pyramid icon to either    Rename the namespace to match the directory name in Windows Explorer  or  Rename the directory in Windows Explorer to match the namespace    In the second case  the final word defines the new directory name in Windows Explorer  e g  if we changed the namespace to ViewModel2  it would offer to move the file to folder ViewModel2   However  this will not necessarily update files in source control  so you may still have to use the manual method     Update 2018-01-31  Tested with Visual Studio 2008  2010  2012  2013  2015  2017 Update 1  2  3  4  5   Update 2020-05-02  Tested with Visual Studio 2019

User · Answer

The only solution which works for me on Visual Studio 2013 in a WEB project   Lets say I want to rename  project1  to be  project2   Lets say the physical path to my  sln file is  c  my path project1 project1 sln  so the path to my  csproj file as well as the bin and the obj folders should be  c  my path project1 project1    Open the solution in VS by double clicking the project1 sln file  In Solution Explorer  right-click the project  NOT the solution      select Rename  and enter a new name  In Solution Explorer  right-click the project and select Properties  On the Application tab  change the  Assembly name  and  Default namespace   In the main CS file  or any other code files like Global asax for example   rename the namespace declaration to use the new name  For this right-click the namespace and select Refactor   Rename enter a new name  For example    namespace project1  4 1 In Solution Explorer  right-click the project  NOT the solution      select Rename  and enter a new name    Make sure  the AssemblyTitle and AssemblyProduct in Properties AssemblyInfo cs are set to the new name   project2      1  assembly  AssemblyTitle  New Name Here    2  assembly  AssemblyDescription      3  assembly  AssemblyConfiguration      4  assembly  AssemblyCompany      5  assembly  AssemblyProduct  New Name Here    6  assembly  AssemblyCopyright  Copyright     2013    7  assembly  AssemblyTrademark      8  assembly  AssemblyCulture        Close the Visual Studio  Delete bin and obj directories physically  Rename the parent folder and the source folder to the new name  project2     In the example  c  my path project1 project1  will be  c  my path project2 project2   Rename the SLN file name by right click on that SLN file forward by Rename  Then finally open the SLN file  within notepad or any editor  and copy and replace  Ctrl h  any old name to the new name  Open VS and click BUILD -  Clean Solution  click Build -  Build solution and then F5 to run    Note1  If you get something like this  Compilation Error CS0246  The type or namespace name  project2  could not be found  are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference     Source File  c  Users Username AppData Local Temp Temporary ASP NET Files root 78dd917f d0836ce4 App Web index cshtml a8d08dba b0mwjmih 0 cs  Then go to the  Temporary ASP NET Files  folder and delete everything    Note2  If you are trying to do  save as  to a new named project and to keep also the old one  consider duplicating your db by modifying the connectionStrings in web config and also by re-starting migrations if you have one in the project

User · Answer

Remove add project file method This method is entirely aimed at renaming the directory for the project  as viewed in Windows Explorer   Backup your entire project using something like GIT  SVN  or WinZip  important    Within the solution in Visual Studio  remove the project  Rename the directory in Windows Explorer  Add the project back in again within Visual Studio   Advantages  You can make the directory within Windows Explorer match the project name within the solution   Disadvantages  If you remove a library  it removes any references to the said library from other projects  The solution may not compile after this until you add the references to said library back in  this is quite easy   This is the reason why step 1  backup  is so important  If you have source control  you will lose the history of the file   Right-clicking on a project and selecting  quot Open Folder in Windows Explorer quot  is useful to keep track of where the project is stored while you are performing this process

User · Answer

I tried the Visual Studio Project Renamer  but  it threw exceptions in the few cases where I tried it   I have had good success with CopyWiz   I am in no way affiliated with them  and I have not yet paid for it  but I may have to soon  as it is the only tool that seems to work for both my C  and C   projects  I do hope they make a little money  and continue to improve it  though

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Below is a step-by-step way of renaming your entire solution in Visual Studio 2013 Assuming we re changing a project named  quot HelloWorld ui quot  to  quot Section1to5 ui quot   Go to solution explorer  screenshot below   right click on the project that you wish to rename and select  quot Rename quot   Enter the new name that you desire     Right click on the Project that you have just renamed  and click on  quot Properties quot   Under the Application tab  change the  quot Assembly name quot  and  quot Default namespace quot    In the main Program cs file  or any other code files that you may have created   rename the namespace declaration to use the new name  For this right-click the namespace and select Refactor  gt  Rename enter a new name  For example  namespace HelloWorld ui ---- gt  namespace Section1to5 ui  Next  expand the  quot Properties quot  and double click on AssemblyInfo cs file  You will notice the below code fragment      assembly  AssemblyTitle  quot HelloWorld ui quot     assembly  AssemblyDescription  quot  quot     assembly  AssemblyConfiguration  quot  quot     assembly  AssemblyCompany  quot Microsoft quot     assembly  AssemblyProduct  quot HelloWorld ui quot     assembly  AssemblyCopyright  quot Copyright    Microsoft 2015 quot     assembly  AssemblyTrademark  quot  quot     assembly  AssemblyCulture  quot  quot      You need to change the AssemblyTitle and AssemblyProduct in Properties AssemblyInfo cs to the new name  in this example from  quot HelloWorld ui quot  to  quot Section1to5 ui quot   Once you re done changing the name  save and close Visual Studio   In the project directory  go inside the folder  quot HelloWorld ui quot  and delete the  quot bin quot  and  quot obj quot  directories   Once you re done  rename the folder  quot HelloWorld ui quot  to the new project name   Open the renamed solutions file with a text editor such as Notepad or Notepad   and edit the following line  Project  quot  FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC  quot      quot HelloWorld ui quot    quot HelloWorld ui HelloWorld ui csproj quot    quot  39FC65A3-3AE7-4EC9-B8F7-74F971636C70  quot    Replace all the instances of  quot HelloWorld ui quot  the new name that you ve selected for your project  in this case  quot Section1to5 ui quot   This changes the path of the project to the renamed directory in step 6   Open the solutions file with visual studio  and clean and rebuild the project   You may notice that the  quot Debug Run quot  button has been replaced by the  quot Attach quot  button  If this happens  simply right click on the project and choose the  quot Set as StartUp project quot  option  Alternatively  click on  Tools gt Customize gt Commands gt Add command gt Debug and add the button    You re done renaming the project  if you have any doubts feel free to post and I d be glad to help out

User · Answer

If you are Creating a Website in Visual Studio 2010  You can change the project name as follows   Step 1  In Visual Studio 2010 the SLN file will be stored under project folder within Visual studio 2010 and Source files are stored under Website folder within Visual Studio 2010   Step 2  Rename the folder by right click on that folder forward by Rename which contains your SLN project   Step 3  Rename the SLN file name by right click on that SLN file forward by Rename   Step 4  Rename the folder that contains Source of that SLN file under Website in Visual Studio 2010   Step 5  Then finally Double click Your SLN file and change the root of your SLN source folder

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If you have problems with loading Shared projects  like Xamarin  remember to change reference to shared libs in csproj files  I developed a CocosSharp game and Droid iOS WP81 projects didn t want to load  I had to change the line below in every csproj file  Driod iOS WP81  which referenced Shared lib  That was caused because of folder names change  so replace YOUR PREVIOUS NAMESPACE with your new names of folders   lt Import Project  quot    YOUR PREVIOUS NAMESPACE Shared EmptyProject Shared projitems quot  Label  quot Shared quot    gt   Also  I noticed that for  Driod projects  assembly name in project properties cannot be changed using Visual Studio  I use 2015   I had to change assembly name manually in the  Droid csproj file   lt AssemblyName gt YourNameSpace lt  AssemblyName gt   Then I loaded solution and in project properties view new name appeared  After rebuilding dll with that name was generated

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You can also export template and then create a new project from the exported template changing the name as you prefer

User · Answer

I ve used the Visual Studio extension  Full Rename Project  to successfully rename projects in an ASP NET Core 2 solution    I used ReSharper then to adjust the namespace  right click on project  refactor  adjust namespaces      https   github com kuanysh-nabiyev RenameProjectVsExtension

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I have followed https   gist github com n3dst4 b932117f3453cc6c56be link and I was able to renamed my entire solution successfully

User · Answer

I m new to VS  I just had that same problem  Needed to rename an started project after a couple weeks work  This what I did and it worked     Just in case  make a backup of your folder Project  although you won t be touching it  but just in case  Create a new project and save it using the name you wish for your  new  project  meaning the name you want to change your  old  project to  Build it  After that you ll have a Project with the name you wanted but that it does not anything at all but open a window  a Windows Form App in my case   With the new proyect opened  click on Project- Add Existing   tem and using Windows Explorer locate your  old  folder Project and select all the files under    Visual Studio xxx Projects oldApp oldApp Select all files in there   vb   resx  and add them to your  new  Project  the one that should be already opened   Almost last step would be to open your Project file using the Solution Explorer and in the 1st tab change the default startup form to the form it should be  Rebuild everything    Maybe more steps but less or no typing at all  just some mouse clicks  Hope it helps

User · Answer

along with answer of this link  https   stackoverflow com a 19844531 6767365  rename these files  I renamed my project to MvcMovie and it works fine

User · Answer

You can    click file-  new - create project from existing project select your original file  eg  solution 1 and input the new file name solution 2 change the project name in the new solution 2

User · Answer

Delete your bin and obj subfolders to remove a load of incorrect reference then use windows to search for old name   Edit any code or xml files found and rebuild  should be ok now

User · Answer

To rename a website   http   www c-sharpcorner com Blogs 46334 rename-website-project-in-visual-studio-2013 aspx  locate and edit IISExpress s applicationhost config  found here  C  Users username  Documents IISExpress config

User · Answer

Using the  Find in Files  function of Notepad   worked fine for me  ctrl    H  Find in Files    http   notepad-plus-plus org download v6 2 2 html

User · Answer

The Rename operations in Visual Studio only change the filename  i e     prj for a project  and   sln for a solution   You will need to rename folders separately using the filesystem  and you will need to remove and re-add the projects since they will have new folder names   However  note that the solution and project files are respectively text and xml files   You could write your own program that parses them and renames both the folder names  filenames  and fixes the project solution files internally

[visual-studio] Proper way to rename solution (and directories) in Visual Studio

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