Install Visual Studio and Choose Your Preferred Features (original) (raw)

In Visual Studio, it's easy to choose and install just the features you need.

Ready to install? This article walks you through the process, step-by-step.

Step 1 - Make sure your computer is ready for Visual Studio

Before you begin installing Visual Studio:

Check the system requirements. These requirements help you determine whether your computer supports Visual Studio 2022.
Make sure that the user who performs the initial installation has administrator permissions on the machine. For more information, see User permissions and Visual Studio.
Apply the latest Windows updates. These updates ensure that your computer has both the latest security updates and the required system components for Visual Studio.
Restart. Restarting ensures that any pending installations or updates don't hinder your Visual Studio installation.
Free up space. Remove unneeded files and applications from your system drive by, for example, running the Disk Cleanup utility.

You can install Visual Studio 2022 side-by-side with other versions. For more information, see Visual Studio 2022 platform targeting and compatibility and Install Visual Studio versions side-by-side.

Check the system requirements. These requirements help you determine whether your computer supports the latest Visual Studio.
Make sure that the user who performs the initial installation has administrator permissions on the machine. For more information, see User permissions and Visual Studio.
Apply the latest Windows updates. These updates ensure that your computer has both the latest security updates and the required system components for Visual Studio.
Restart. Restarting ensures that any pending installations or updates don't hinder your Visual Studio installation.
Free up space. Remove unneeded files and applications from your system drive by, for example, running the Disk Cleanup utility.

You can install Visual Studio latest side-by-side with other versions. For more information, see Visual Studio platform targeting and compatibility and Install Visual Studio versions side-by-side.

Step 2 - Determine which version and edition of Visual Studio to install

Decide which version and edition of Visual Studio to install. The most common options are:

The latest release of Visual Studio 2022 that's hosted on Microsoft servers. To install this version, select the following button and then choose the edition you want. The installer downloads a small bootstrapper to your Downloads folder.
The latest release of Visual Studio that's hosted on Microsoft servers. To install this version, select the following button and then choose the edition you want. The installer downloads a small bootstrapper to your Downloads folder.
If you already have Visual Studio installed, you can install another version alongside it by choosing one that's listed on the Available tab of the Visual Studio Installer.
You can download a bootstrapper for a specific version from the Visual Studio 2022 Release History page and use it to install Visual Studio.
You can download a bootstrapper for a specific version from the Visual Studio Release History page and use it to install Visual Studio.
Your IT administrator might point you to a specific location from which to install Visual Studio.

Step 3 - Initiate the installation

If you downloaded a bootstrapper file, you can use it to install Visual Studio. You need administrator permissions. The bootstrapper installs the latest version of the Visual Studio Installer. The installer is a separate program that provides everything you need to both install and customize Visual Studio.

From your Downloads folder, double-click the bootstrapper named VisualStudioSetup.exe, or named something like vs_community.exe, to start the installation.
If you see a User Account Control notice, select Yes. The dialog box asks you to acknowledge the Microsoft License Terms and the Microsoft Privacy Statement. Select Continue.
From your Downloads folder, double-click the bootstrapper named VisualStudioSetup.exe, or named something like vs_Community.exe, to start the installation.
If you see a User Account Control notice, select Yes. The dialog box asks you to acknowledge the Microsoft License Terms and the Microsoft Privacy Statement. Select Continue.
If you have other versions of Visual Studio installed, the installer gives you flexible options to move forward without losing your previous environment. You can migrate a previous Visual Studio 2022 configuration to copy workloads, SDKs, toolsets, and components, start a new install with the workloads and components you select, or import your configuration from an exported .vsconfig file.

Screenshot showing the options in the new installer.

Visual Studio Installer opens. You can also install any product that's listed on the Visual Studio Installer Available tab.

Select how to configure your Visual Studio installation

When you install Visual Studio 2026 or later, the installer provides options to copy your previous Visual Studio environment. You can configure the installation in a few ways:

Manually choose workloads and components
Start from scratch and manually choose the workloads and components you want to install.
Migrate my configuration from this product version
Chose an existing Visual Studio instance (2022 or later) to copy workloads, SDKs, toolsets, settings, and extensions into your new Visual Studio environment.
Import my configuration from a .vsconfig file
Use a file that you or your team exported. Importing a .vsconfig file helps standardize development environments across multiple machines. Learn more: Importing and exporting installation configurations

Extensions, Settings, and Out-of-Support Components

Only Marketplace extensions from a previous Visual Studio installation can be copied into Visual Studio.
Settings are imported via a .vssettings file.
Out-of-support workloads and componentsSome workloads or components are no longer supported in Visual Studio, the installer lets you choose whether to include or remove them during setup.

Note

Out-of-support components may not function correctly in the new version. It is recommended to review these carefully before proceeding with installation.

Step 4 - Choose workloads

After you install the Visual Studio Installer, you can use it to customize your installation by selecting the feature sets, or workloads, that you want. Here's how.

Select the workload that you want in the Visual Studio Installer.

Review the workload summaries to decide which workload supports the features you need. For example, choose the ASP.NET and web development workload to edit ASP.NET Web pages with Web Live Preview or build responsive web apps with Blazor. You might choose from the Desktop & Mobile workloads to develop cross-platform apps with C#, or C++ projects that target C++20.
After you choose the workloads that you want, select Install.
Next, a status screen that shows the progress of your Visual Studio installation appears.
Select the workload that you want in the Visual Studio Installer.

Review the workload summaries to decide which workload supports the features you need. For example, choose the ASP.NET and web development workload to edit ASP.NET Web pages with Web Live Preview or build responsive web apps with Blazor. You might choose from the Desktop & Mobile workloads to develop cross-platform apps with C#, or C++ projects that target C++20.
After you choose the workloads that you want, select Install.
Next, a status screen that shows the progress of your Visual Studio installation appears.

Tip

At any time after installation, you can install workloads or components that you didn't install initially. If you have Visual Studio open, go to Tools > Get Tools and Features, which opens the Visual Studio Installer. Or open the Visual Studio Installer from the Start menu. From there, you can choose the workloads or components that you want to install. Then choose Modify.

Step 5 - Choose individual components (optional)

If you don't want to use the Workloads feature to customize your Visual Studio installation, or if you want to add more components than a workload installs, you can install or add individual components from the Individual components tab. Choose what you want, and then follow the prompts.

Step 6 - Install language packs (optional)

By default, the installer program tries to match the language of the operating system when it runs for the first time. To install Visual Studio in a language that you choose, go to the Language packs tab from the Visual Studio Installer, and then follow the prompts.

Change the installer language at a command prompt

You can also change the default language by running the installer at a command prompt. For example, you can force the installer to run in English by using the following command:

vs_installer.exe --locale en-US

The installer retains this setting when you run it again. The installer supports these language locales: zh-cn, zh-tw, cs-cz, en-us, es-es, fr-fr, de-de, it-it, ja-jp, ko-kr, pl-pl, pt-br, ru-ru, and tr-tr.

Step 7 - Select the installation location (optional)

You can reduce the installation footprint of Visual Studio on your system drive. For more information, see Select installation locations.

Important

You can select a different drive for the Visual Studio IDE or the Download cache only when you first install Visual Studio. If you already installed it and want to change drives, you must uninstall Visual Studio and then reinstall it.

If you installed Visual Studio on your computer before, you won't be able to change the Shared components, tools, and SDKs path. It appears dimmed. This location is shared by all installations of Visual Studio.

Although you don't have to sign in, there are many advantages to doing so.

You can evaluate a free trial of Visual Studio Professional or Visual Studio Enterprise for 30 days. If you sign in, you can extend the trial period to 90 days. The 90-day trial extension works only one time. To continue using Visual Studio after a trial period ends, unlock it with an online subscription or a product key.

Visual Studio Community doesn't require you to sign in. However, if the installation prompts you to sign in periodically, sign in to continue using Visual Studio Community without interruptions.

Step 9 - Start developing

After your installation is complete, you can get started developing with Visual Studio.

Select the Launch button.
In the start window, select Create a new project.
In the template search box, enter the type of app you want to create to see a list of available templates. The list of templates depends on the workloads that you chose during installation. To see different templates, choose different workloads.
You can also filter your search for a specific programming language by using the All languages dropdown list. You can filter by using the All platforms list and the All project types list, too.
Select Next. Provide information in the following dialogs, and then select Create.

Visual Studio opens your new project, and you're ready to code!

Support or troubleshooting

Sometimes, things can go wrong. If your Visual Studio installation fails, see Troubleshoot Visual Studio installation and upgrade issues for step-by-step guidance.

Here are a few more support options:

Use the installation chat (English only) support option for installation-related issues.
Report product issues to us by using the Report a Problem tool that appears both in the Visual Studio Installer and in the Visual Studio IDE. If you're an IT Administrator and don't have Visual Studio installed, you can submit IT Admin feedback.
Suggest a feature, track product issues, and find answers in the Visual Studio Developer Community.