Visual Studio project type guids

Question

I downloaded a Visual Studio project but I can't open it in my copy of Visual Studio 2010. Useless error message:

The project type is not supported by this installation.

What software do I need to open the project type? It doesn't say.

I actually went and read the .csproj file, it tells me it's project type

<ProjectTypeGuids>{786C830F-07A1-408B-BD7F-6EE04809D6DB};{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}</ProjectTypeGuids>

Am I meant to recognise what software I need from this random string? This is absolutely ludicrous.

Answer 1

I found a site that lists some known project type GUIDs for Visual Studio 2008.

• FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC looks like a Windows C# project (probably a Class Library project?)
• 786C830F-07A1-408B-BD7F-6EE04809D6DB appears to be a Portable Library project

I agree that it's crazy to expect a developer to understand the project type represented by a GUID but whoever supplied the code you downloaded could have indicated what was required to build it!

Answer 2

Visual Studio projects system architecture uses GUIDs to identifiy the type of the project. You could find online lists like these below:

• INFO: List of known project type Guids

• Visual Studio Projects - Project Type GUIDs

Such GUIDs allows the Visual Studio to recognize what type of project user opened and use appropriate tools and editors. To uderstand better what do I mean - read this post for example: Opening an ASP.NET MVC project without having ASP.NET MVC installed: The project type is not supported by this installation

Answer 3

Here's a list of project type GUIDs:

• 8BB2217D-0F2D-49D1-97BC-3654ED321F3B ASP.NET 5
• 603C0E0B-DB56-11DC-BE95-000D561079B0 ASP.NET MVC 1
• F85E285D-A4E0-4152-9332-AB1D724D3325 ASP.NET MVC 2
• E53F8FEA-EAE0-44A6-8774-FFD645390401 ASP.NET MVC 3
• E3E379DF-F4C6-4180-9B81-6769533ABE47 ASP.NET MVC 4
• 349C5851-65DF-11DA-9384-00065B846F21 ASP.NET MVC 5 / Web Application
• FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC C#
• 9A19103F-16F7-4668-BE54-9A1E7A4F7556 C# (forces use of SDK project system)
• 8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942 C++
• A9ACE9BB-CECE-4E62-9AA4-C7E7C5BD2124 Database
• 4F174C21-8C12-11D0-8340-0000F80270F8 Database (other project types)
• 3EA9E505-35AC-4774-B492-AD1749C4943A Deployment Cab
• 06A35CCD-C46D-44D5-987B-CF40FF872267 Deployment Merge Module
• 978C614F-708E-4E1A-B201-565925725DBA Deployment Setup
• AB322303-2255-48EF-A496-5904EB18DA55 Deployment Smart Device Cab
• F135691A-BF7E-435D-8960-F99683D2D49C Distributed System
• BF6F8E12-879D-49E7-ADF0-5503146B24B8 Dynamics 2012 AX C# in AOT
• 82B43B9B-A64C-4715-B499-D71E9CA2BD60 Extensibility
• F2A71F9B-5D33-465A-A702-920D77279786 F#
• 6EC3EE1D-3C4E-46DD-8F32-0CC8E7565705 F# (forces use of SDK project system)
• 95DFC527-4DC1-495E-97D7-E94EE1F7140D IL project
• E6FDF86B-F3D1-11D4-8576-0002A516ECE8 J#
• 262852C6-CD72-467D-83FE-5EEB1973A190 JScript
• 20D4826A-C6FA-45DB-90F4-C717570B9F32 Legacy (2003) Smart Device (C#)
• CB4CE8C6-1BDB-4DC7-A4D3-65A1999772F8 Legacy (2003) Smart Device (VB.NET)
• 581633EB-B896-402F-8E60-36F3DA191C85 LightSwitch Project
• 8BB0C5E8-0616-4F60-8E55-A43933E57E9C LightSwitch
• b69e3092-b931-443c-abe7-7e7b65f2a37f Micro Framework
• C1CDDADD-2546-481F-9697-4EA41081F2FC Office/SharePoint App
• 786C830F-07A1-408B-BD7F-6EE04809D6DB Portable Class Library
• 66A26720-8FB5-11D2-AA7E-00C04F688DDE Project Folders
• D954291E-2A0B-460D-934E-DC6B0785DB48 Shared Project
• 593B0543-81F6-4436-BA1E-4747859CAAE2 SharePoint (C#)
• EC05E597-79D4-47f3-ADA0-324C4F7C7484 SharePoint (VB.NET)
• F8810EC1-6754-47FC-A15F-DFABD2E3FA90 SharePoint Workflow
• A1591282-1198-4647-A2B1-27E5FF5F6F3B Silverlight
• 4D628B5B-2FBC-4AA6-8C16-197242AEB884 Smart Device (C#)
• 68B1623D-7FB9-47D8-8664-7ECEA3297D4F Smart Device (VB.NET)
• 2150E333-8FDC-42A3-9474-1A3956D46DE8 Solution Folder
• 3AC096D0-A1C2-E12C-1390-A8335801FDAB Test
• A5A43C5B-DE2A-4C0C-9213-0A381AF9435A Universal Windows Class Library
• F184B08F-C81C-45F6-A57F-5ABD9991F28F VB.NET
• 778DAE3C-4631-46EA-AA77-85C1314464D9 VB.NET (forces use of SDK project system)
• C252FEB5-A946-4202-B1D4-9916A0590387 Visual Database Tools
• 54435603-DBB4-11D2-8724-00A0C9A8B90C Visual Studio 2015 Installer Project Extension
• A860303F-1F3F-4691-B57E-529FC101A107 Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA)
• BAA0C2D2-18E2-41B9-852F-F413020CAA33 Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO)
• E24C65DC-7377-472B-9ABA-BC803B73C61A Web Site
• 3D9AD99F-2412-4246-B90B-4EAA41C64699 Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
• 76F1466A-8B6D-4E39-A767-685A06062A39 Windows Phone 8/8.1 Blank/Hub/Webview App
• C089C8C0-30E0-4E22-80C0-CE093F111A43 Windows Phone 8/8.1 App (C#)
• DB03555F-0C8B-43BE-9FF9-57896B3C5E56 Windows Phone 8/8.1 App (VB.NET)
• 60DC8134-EBA5-43B8-BCC9-BB4BC16C2548 Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
• BC8A1FFA-BEE3-4634-8014-F334798102B3 Windows Store (Metro) Apps & Components
• D954291E-2A0B-460D-934E-DC6B0785DB48 Windows Store App Universal
• 14822709-B5A1-4724-98CA-57A101D1B079 Workflow (C#)
• D59BE175-2ED0-4C54-BE3D-CDAA9F3214C8 Workflow (VB.NET)
• 32F31D43-81CC-4C15-9DE6-3FC5453562B6 Workflow Foundation
• EFBA0AD7-5A72-4C68-AF49-83D382785DCF Xamarin.Android / Mono for Android
• 6BC8ED88-2882-458C-8E55-DFD12B67127B Xamarin.iOS / MonoTouch
• F5B4F3BC-B597-4E2B-B552-EF5D8A32436F MonoTouch Binding
• 6D335F3A-9D43-41b4-9D22-F6F17C4BE596 XNA (Windows)
• 2DF5C3F4-5A5F-47a9-8E94-23B4456F55E2 XNA (XBox)
• D399B71A-8929-442a-A9AC-8BEC78BB2433 XNA (Zune)

Some of these are given different names under different versions of Visual Studio, so if you don't see an exact name match, look for a similar or related name.