Converting VS 2010 Solution file to VS 2008 solution file

If you are working with VS 2010 (any edition) and cannot open your 2010 solution on VS 2008, then just follow these 3 steps:

For <PROJECT_NAME>.sln:

Open the solution file in your favorite text editor (example: Notepad).

Find the following:
Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 11.00.
# Visual Studio 2010.
Replace with:
Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 10.00. (I)
# Visual Studio 2008. (II, optional)


For <Project_name >.csproj/vbproj:

Open project file in your favorite text editor (example: Notepad++).

Find the following:
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">.
Replace with:
<Project ToolsVersion="3.5" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">. (III)


After these changes, you may receive the below error:
Unable to read the project file 'XXX.csproj'.

C:\Project path\XXX.csproj(89,11): The imported project "C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" was not found. Confirm that the path in the <Import> declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk.

To fix this error, just change the VS version(v10.0 to v9.0) in your <Project_name >.csproj/vbproj file, that's all

Now you can open your solution file on VS2008.
Reverse of this will enable VS2008 solution to open in VS2010.