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Asked: 2026-06-18T10:40:59+00:00

Why can’t you open a project or solution that was developed using one version

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Why can’t you open a project or solution that was developed using one version of visual studio in another version of visual studio?

I understand that solutions contain projects and projects contain files e.g. aspx, vb etc. I also understand that one version of visual studio could default to targeting one version of .NET and the another could target a different version of .NET. Therefore I understand that it may be necessary to change code in the application if it now targets a different version of .NET as functions could be depreciated etc in a new version.

I expected to find an answer to this online, but I have not. For example, I have looked at the following question: difference between visual studio 2008 and visual studio 2010.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    In Visual Studio 2012, they addressed this issue (I agree, it can be a pain). In 2012, it will not modify the project file, so you can continue to open the project in 2010 after you’ve opened it in 2012. This allows teams with mixed Visual Studio versions (2010 & 2012) to continue working on the same projects.

    If you don’t have VS 2012, and are still using 2010, then once you upgrade the project to the new version (say, from 2008 to 2010), you can no longer open the project in the older version, unfortunately.

    I’m not sure about your development environment, but if you don’t already have it, there are free express versions of VS 2012 available: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/products/visual-studio-express-products.

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