Visual Studio 2026 .slnx solution file not detected as active solution when opening C++ files

Summary

With UE 5.8, in the Editor, VisualStudioSourceCodeAccess doesn’t seem to recognize the running VS 2026 process opened with .slnx when navigating to C++ files. Instead, it will launch a new process that opens the .sln file to navigate to that file.

If the Editor was launched with the .sln file instead, C++ file navigation works normally.

What Type of Bug are you experiencing?

Editor

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Have a UE 5.8 C++ project, with Visual Studio 2026 as the default source code editor
  2. Run “Generate Visual Studio project files” which generates both .sln and .slnx files
  3. Open the .slnx file in VS 2026 and launch the Editor
  4. Open a Blueprint asset that inherits from a C++ class. Click the parent class in the Editor

Expected Result

UE should detect the running Visual Studio process and navigate to the selected C++ class file in the solution

Observed Result

UE instead launches a new Visual Studio 2026 process opening up the .sln file (confirmed when viewing timestamped launch history for VS 2026) and navigates to that file

Affects Versions

5.8

Platform(s)

Windows

Additional Notes

No issues when using the .sln file to launch the Editor instead.