How to Reset all settings, restore Toolbox items, refresh Visual Studio

For a variety of reasons, Visual Studio can get "discombobulated" - the toolbox may not show any items, it can crash, add-ins don't work, and any of a dozen other problems. This batch script, which should be run from a Visual Studio Command Prompt, addresses all these issues, and it will not mess anything up.

Save the below 4 lines as "VsRestore.bat":

devenv /ResetSettings
devenv /setup
devenv /resetskippkgs
devenv.exe /InstallVSTemplates


this batch file should be run from a Visual Studio Command Prompt. It will reset all your Visual Studio settings, perform a new setup (what happens when you first run Visual Studio after installation is done), reset all add-ins, and reinstall all Templates.

If you still have problems with Visual Studio after running the above script, you have a different kind of issue and should probably do a Repair (Reinstall) of Visual Studio.