How to: Restore Hidden Debugger Commands
Note
This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
When you set up Visual Studio, you are asked to choose a set of default IDE settings for your primary programming language. Default IDE settings for some languages may hide certain debugger commands.
If you want to use a debugger feature that is hidden by your default IDE settings, you can add the command back to the menu using the following procedure.
To restore hidden debugger commands
With a project open, on the Tools menu, click Customize.
In the Customize dialog box, click the Commands tab.
In the Menu bar: drop-down, select the Debug menu that you want to contain the restored command.
Click the Add Command… button.
In the Add Command box, select the command you want to add, and click OK.
Repeat the previous step to add another command.
Click Close when you have finished adding commands to the menu.
Warning
Some menu items only appear when the debugger is in specific modes, such as run mode or break mode. Therefore, an item you added may not be immediately visible when you complete these steps.
Restoring Commands Not Available from the Customize Dialog Box
Some commands, especially those found in hierarchical menus, cannot be restored from the Customize dialog box. To restore these commands, you must import a new collection of IDE settings.
To import new IDE settings
On the Tools menu, click Import and Export Settings.
On the Welcome to the Import and Export Settings Wizard page, click Import selected environment settings, and then click Next.
On the Save Current Settings page, decide whether or not to save your existing settings, and then click Next.
On the Choose a collection of settings to import page, under the Default Settings folder, choose a collection of development settings that has the commands you want to use. If you do not know which collection to choose, try General Development Settings or Visual C++ Development Settings, which provide the most debugger commands.
Click Next.
On the Choose settings to import page, under Options, make sure Debugging is selected. Clear the other check boxes, unless you want to import those settings as well.
Click Finish.
On the Import Complete page, review any errors associated with resetting your settings under Details.
Click Close.