INFO: List of known project type Guids

Author:	Carlos J. Quintero (Microsoft MVP)	Applies to:	Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002
Date:	June 2008		Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003
			Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
			Microsoft Visual Studio 2008

Introduction

This article provides a list of known project type Guids.

More Information

Every Visual Studio project has a project type (Windows project, Smart Device project, Web Site project, etc.) and in some cases more than one type (subtypes or flavors).

Every project type is identified by a unique Guid, so every project has one or more project type Guids.

Project type Guids are stored generally in the project file:

But for some special projects (such as some database projects) and projects lacking a file (such as Web Site projects), the project type is stored also in the solution file:

Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 10.00
# Visual Studio 2008
Project("{F184B08F-C81C-45F6-A57F-5ABD9991F28F}") = "SqlServerProject1", "SqlServerProject1.vbproj", "{BE5F0BE0-93CD-4FCE-A853-9096A442DF1B}"
EndProject
...

Note: Do not confuse the project type Guid with the project guid that identifies a project within a solution.

The main project type of a project is returned by the automation model through the EnvDTE.Project.Kind property, which is a string containing the Guid that identifies the project type. To get all the project type Guids of a project you have to read the project or solution file, or use the IVsAggregatableProject interface as described in the article HOWTO: Get the project flavor (subtype) of a Visual Studio project from an add-in.

The project type Guids are stored in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\Projects where <version> is:

7.0 for Visual Studio .NET 2002
7.1 for Visual Studio .NET 2003
8.0 for Visual Studio 2005
9.0 for Visual Studio 2008

However, not all the Guids stored in that registry key are actual project types. Some of them are used only to provide project templates (for C# and VB.NET projects) and others have other purposes. The following table lists known project type Guids.

Note: The Guids are provided all uppercase because the case in the registry doesn't always match the case in the project file.

Project Type Description	Project Type Guid
Windows (C#)	{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}
Windows (VB.NET)	{F184B08F-C81C-45F6-A57F-5ABD9991F28F}
Windows (Visual C++)	{8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942}
Web Application	{349C5851-65DF-11DA-9384-00065B846F21}
Web Site	{E24C65DC-7377-472B-9ABA-BC803B73C61A}
Distributed System	{F135691A-BF7E-435D-8960-F99683D2D49C}
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)	{3D9AD99F-2412-4246-B90B-4EAA41C64699}
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)	{60DC8134-EBA5-43B8-BCC9-BB4BC16C2548}
Visual Database Tools	{C252FEB5-A946-4202-B1D4-9916A0590387}
Database	{A9ACE9BB-CECE-4E62-9AA4-C7E7C5BD2124}
Database (other project types)	{4F174C21-8C12-11D0-8340-0000F80270F8}
Test	{3AC096D0-A1C2-E12C-1390-A8335801FDAB}
Legacy (2003) Smart Device (C#)	{20D4826A-C6FA-45DB-90F4-C717570B9F32}
Legacy (2003) Smart Device (VB.NET)	{CB4CE8C6-1BDB-4DC7-A4D3-65A1999772F8}
Smart Device (C#)	{4D628B5B-2FBC-4AA6-8C16-197242AEB884}
Smart Device (VB.NET)	{68B1623D-7FB9-47D8-8664-7ECEA3297D4F}
Workflow (C#)	{14822709-B5A1-4724-98CA-57A101D1B079}
Workflow (VB.NET)	{D59BE175-2ED0-4C54-BE3D-CDAA9F3214C8}
Deployment Merge Module	{06A35CCD-C46D-44D5-987B-CF40FF872267}
Deployment Cab	{3EA9E505-35AC-4774-B492-AD1749C4943A}
Deployment Setup	{978C614F-708E-4E1A-B201-565925725DBA}
Deployment Smart Device Cab	{AB322303-2255-48EF-A496-5904EB18DA55}
Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA)	{A860303F-1F3F-4691-B57E-529FC101A107}
Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO)	{BAA0C2D2-18E2-41B9-852F-F413020CAA33}
SharePoint Workflow	{F8810EC1-6754-47FC-A15F-DFABD2E3FA90}

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