How can I stop Visual Studio automatically upgrading projects?

Question

I'd like to give VS2k10 a shot, but I'm in a VS2k8 environment. I compared the upgraded project files in VS2k10 and the only difference was the updated version number - how can I stop VS from doing this?

Answer 1

It also does this for some 2K8 SP1 in some cases IIRC. How about just not checking in csproj files from 2k8 - you never know when you're going to hit a more complex case where you are actually hitting something 2kA specific, and by first making sure everything still works in 2k8 you'll prevent team confusion.

Answer 2

Probably the only way to open the VS 2008 projects safely in VS 2010 will be to make a copy and open the copy in VS 2010. In my experience, it's impossible to revert back once you have opened a specific project in a later version of VS unless you feel like changing the version number in the project files.

This was true with the 2003 to 2005 switch, and also with the 2005 to 2008 switch.

Answer 3

You can't stop VS from trying to upgrade the project. When VS detects that the project file is not high enough for it's version, it will force an upgrade. If you cancel it will then not allow you to open the project.

I find the best approach here is to use two project files; 1 for each version of visual studio. I usually just copy all of the project files, open one and rebuild the solution.