Manually adding Resources Files to Visual Studio Projects

Suppose you're moving files between projects and you have to move a Settings or Resource File.  If you drag these files between projects, you’ll notice that Visual Studio doesn’t preserve the relationships between the designer files:

 

Since these are embedded resources, you’ll need a few extra steps to get things sorted out:

1. Right-click on the Project and choose Unload Project.  Visual Studio may churn for a few seconds.
2. Once unloaded, Right-click on the project file and choose Edit <Project-Name>.
3. Locate your resource files and setup them up to be embedded resources with auto-generated designer files:

<ItemGroup>
  <None Include="Resources\Settings.settings">
    <Generator>SettingsSingleFileGenerator</Generator>
    <LastGenOutput>Settings.Designer.cs</LastGenOutput>
  </None>
  <Compile Include="Resources\Settings.Designer.cs">
    <AutoGen>True</AutoGen>
    <DependentUpon>Settings.settings</DependentUpon>
    <DesignTimeSharedInput>True</DesignTimeSharedInput>
  </Compile>
  <EmbeddedResource Include="Resources\Resources.resx">
    <Generator>ResXFileCodeGenerator</Generator>
    <LastGenOutput>Resources.Designer.cs</LastGenOutput>
  </EmbeddedResource>
  <Compile Include="Resources\Resources.Designer.cs">
    <AutoGen>True</AutoGen>
    <DependentUpon>Resources.resx</DependentUpon>
    <DesignTime>True</DesignTime>
  </Compile>
</ItemGroup>

Cheers.