Displaying Assemblies in the Add Reference dialog box

To display an assembly in the Add Reference dialog box, follow the steps below:

Move or copy the assembly to one of the following locations:
- The current project directory. (You can find these assemblies by using the Browse tab.)
- Other project directories in the same solution. (You can find these assemblies by using the Projects tab.)
- or -
Set a registry key that specifies the location of assemblies to display:
For a 32-bit operating system, add one of the following registry keys.
- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\VersionMinimum\AssemblyFoldersEx\MyAssemblies]@="AssemblyLocation"
- [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\VersionMinimum\AssemblyFoldersEx\MyAssemblies]@="AssemblyLocation"
For a 64-bit operating system, add one of the following registry keys in a 32-bit registry hive.
- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\VersionMinimum\AssemblyFoldersEx\MyAssemblies]@="AssemblyLocation"
- [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\VersionMinimum\AssemblyFoldersEx\MyAssemblies]@="AssemblyLocation"

VersionMinimum is the lowest .NET Framework version that applies. If VersionMinimum is v3.0, folders specified in AssemblyFoldersEx apply to projects that target .NET Framework 3.0 and later.

AssemblyLocation is the directory of the assemblies that you want to appear in the Add Reference dialog box, for example, C:\MyAssemblies\.

Creating the registry key under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE node allows all users to see the assemblies in the specified location in the Add Reference dialog box. Creating the registry key under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER node affects only the setting for the current user.

Open the Add Reference dialog box again. The assemblies should appear on the .NET tab. If they do not, ensure that the assemblies are located in the specified AssemblyLocation directory, restart Visual Studio, and try again.