How do you clear your MRU list in Visual Studio?

I want to clear the list of projects on the start page...how do I do this? I know I can track it down in the registry, but is there an approved route to go?

Solution 1:

There is an MSDN article here which suggests that you just move the projects to a new directory.

However, as you mentioned, the list of projects is kept in the registry under this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\ProjectMRUList

and the list of recent files is kept in this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\FILEMRUList

Note For Visual Studio 2015:
The location has changed. You can check out this answer for details.

Some people have automated clearing this registry key with their own tools:
Visual Studio Most Recent Files Utility
Add-in for cleaning Visual Studio 2008 MRU Projects list

Solution 2:

PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2008

Features

Clear Recent File List
Clear Recent Project List
Clear All Panes
Copy Path
Email CodeSnippet
Insert Guid Attribute
Show All Files
Undo Close
Collapse Projects
Copy Class
Paste Class
Copy References
Paste References
Copy As Project Reference
Edit Project File
Open Containing Folder
Open Command Prompt
Unload Projects
Reload Projects
Remove and Sort Usings
Extract Constant
Transform Templates
Close All

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Solution 3:

If you try opening up a project that can no longer be found, Visual Studio will prompt you for permission to remove it from the MRU list. So if you temporarily rename an appropriate top level folder to fake the projects' disappearance, you can get rid of the projects one by one.