Here's the problem:

1. I have V-Ray for Houdini running with a custom V-Ray shelf
2. The shelf is created the first time you start Houdini with V-Ray. A line is appended to the \Documents\houdini17.0\toolbar\default.shelf
The code inside is:

<shelfSetEdit name=“shelf_set_2” fileLocation=“CPROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.416/houdini/toolbar/ShelfDefinitions.master_shelf”>
<addMemberToolshelf name=“vray_render” inPosition=“17”/>
</shelfSetEdit>

3. If you Right Mouse Button click and hit Delete Shelf Tab, the shelf is gone permanently.

—

What I've tried so far (and didn't help):

1. Manually add the line responsible for including the shelf - now it shows up but with no icons. I've tried manually copying the icons - the error does not disappear.
2. Deleting the \Documents\houdini17.0 folder

—

It seems to me that this deletion is stored somewhere in the install directory. Unfortunately I can't find where.

Please help :-)

All the best!

GoshoGenchev
Here's the problem:

1. I have V-Ray for Houdini running with a custom V-Ray shelf
2. The shelf is created the first time you start Houdini with V-Ray. A line is appended to the \Documents\houdini17.0\toolbar\default.shelf
The code inside is:

<shelfSetEdit name="shelf_set_2" fileLocation="C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.416/houdini/toolbar/ShelfDefinitions.master_shelf">
<addMemberToolshelf name="vray_render" inPosition="17"/>
</shelfSetEdit>

3. If you Right Mouse Button click and hit Delete Shelf Tab, the shelf is gone permanently.

---

What I've tried so far (and didn't help):

1. Manually add the line responsible for including the shelf - now it shows up but with no icons. I've tried manually copying the icons - the error does not disappear.
2. Deleting the \Documents\houdini17.0 folder

---

It seems to me that this deletion is stored somewhere in the install directory. Unfortunately I can't find where.

Please help :-)

All the best!

This undocumented "Delete Shelf Tab" menu item is dangerous, because it silently edits the corresponding .shelf file, removing a "toolshelf" xml element containing the tab name and all it's member tool names. No backup created (or I just not found it).

So, as I can see, the simplest way is to reinstall the plugin providing deleted shelf tab (V-Ray in this case).
Or, if you have an original .shelf file, just copy a "toolshelf" element from it.