I recently purchased a new laptop (an experience I’ll talk about another time) and got a new desktop at work, so I had the pleasure of re-installing Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 twice in the past two months. (The service pack install was faster, thanks to this tip.) Everything seemed fine, except for one thing: I couldn’t get Visual Studio to recognize Firefox as my default browser, which meant every time I started a web project (debugging or not), Internet Explorer would rear its ugly head.
The solution was not to change the Windows default browser (it was already IE) or to set some crazy start action on your web project. It’s more obscure. In VS, go to File / Browse With, add a new browser that points to Firefox, then set that as the default.
OK, it does make sense on some levels, and maybe it’s good that VS can have a different default browser than Windows, but shouldn’t that option be in the Tools / Options window, perhaps under the Environment section, which already has a Web Browser group?
At least I figured it out without breaking (another) mouse.
Noelia says:
I haven’t got File / Browse With option in VS 2005. I need to change the default browser from Firefox to IExplorer because some controls don’t work with firefox. Can you help me?Thanks
Noelia says:
I found the solution:
http://geekswithblogs.net/AndrewSiemer/archive/2007/10/17/Changing-your-debug-browser-to-Fire-Fox-in-Visual-Studio.aspx
RAUL says:
VERY VERY COOL!!!!!!!!!
Quinton says:
Hi
Great tip, thanks.
I have found that when I close the Firefox window, the VS debugger doesn’t stop the application debugging in VS. I have to manually click the “Stop” button in my VS toolbar.
Also, if I click the “Stop” button on the VS toolbar before closing the browser window, Firefox doesn’t close.
These things don’t happen if I use IE to debug!
Any ideas on how to get the same functionallity in Firefox?
Mohammad Elsheimy says:
Just what the doctor ordered, thank you very much. 🙂