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Unable to read the project file '[project name].vbproj'

Here's the deal. I had a computer with Visual Studio 2003, 2005, and 2008 all installed with .Net 1.1, .NET 2.0, and .NET 3.5. I was able to open projects in all three versions of Visual Studio. I just got a new computer (same OS, same model laptop, same everything) and installed all of those versions of VS, with the addition of Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET 4 framework. When I attempt to open one of my previously working applications in VS2005 I receive the following error:

Unable to read the project file '[project name].vbproj'...The imported project [project location] was not found. Confirm that the path in the <Import> declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk.

Does this have anything to do with where / how I installed Visual Studio 2005?

puru1981

have you ever opened the same project in higher version of VS?

if yes then the project file has a stamp of the higher version and can't be opened in lower version. So you are getting this error.

CitySec

ASKER

I do not believe so. And if I had, is there a way to modify this stamp to point back to VS2005 and .NET 2.0?

SOLUTION

puru1981

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CitySec

ASKER

I cannot find any tag like that in the .vbproj file. The only thing that comes close is this line:

<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v9.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" Condition="" />

Should I change the folder in that string to v8.0? Or should I add in a tag called

<ProductVersion>8.0</ProductVersion>

And if I do add that, where exactly do I put it in the .vbproj file?

Thanks for your help on this.

Vikram Singh Saini

Hi,

Is it necessary to open the modified file in VS 2005? Please don't mind may I know what is the reason behind that.

Is your application is Web Application or Windows Application?

However please refer to link:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/djpark/archive/2007/11/07/how-to-use-solutions-and-projects-between-visual-studio-2005-and-2008.aspx

for getting details about How to use solutions and projects between Visual Studio 2005 and 2008.

Regards,
VSS

CitySec

ASKER

I opened it in Visual Studio 2010 and converted the application, but I did not convert the .NET version from 2.0 to 4.0, and this seemed to work. I'm still confused as to why it would work in 2010 and not 2005?

puru1981

now you will be not able to open the solution in VS2008. because the project is saved as VS2010 project and no lower version can open the project.

CitySec

ASKER

Yeah, I understand that, which is why I made a backup copy first. Is there a difference between opening in 2008 and 2010 (for the purposes of this question & solution)?

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puru1981

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puru1981

yes, if you open a project in higher version it will not open in previous version.

to open in previous version you need to make changes in project file.

to know the changes you can use any comparing tool to find the differences between two project files.

CitySec

ASKER

Thanks, for some reason I didn't see that ProductVersion tag the first time I opened the .proj file. I searched for it in notepad. Maybe my search had a typo. Anyway, that's what I needed, thanks.