Back to: C#.NET Tutorials For Beginners and Professionals
How to Download and Install Visual Studio on Windows
In this article, I am going to discuss How to Download and Install Visual Studio on Windows. Please read our previous article where we discussed Introduction to C# Programming Language.
What is Visual Studio?
Microsoft Visual Studio is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) from Microsoft. Visual Studio is the one-stop shop for all applications built on the .NET platform. One can develop, debug and run applications using Visual Studio.
Both Desktop and Web-Based applications can be designed and developed using this Visual Studio IDE. Now, let us proceed and understand the step-by-step process of how to Download and Install Visual Studio. I am going to show you how to Download and Install Visual Studio on Windows Operating System.
To develop any type of application or learn a language, you’ll be working in the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Beyond Code Editing, Visual Studio IDE brings together Graphical User Interface, Compilers, Code Completion Tools, Source Control like TFS, Extensions, and many more features in one place.
How to Download and Install Visual Studio for Windows
Let’s look at the Visual Studio Installation steps and download Visual Studio IDE so that we can work with creating programs in the subsequent tutorials. In this tutorial, we will learn how to download Visual Studio for Windows. Here, we are going to download Visual Studio 2022 which is currently the latest version. As we are going to cover all the latest features of C# 10, so, the latest visual studio is required.
Download Visual Studio Latest Version
In order to download visual studio, please visit the following Visual Studio download link
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/
Once you visit the above link, you will get the following page.
Here, you can select
- Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition
- Visual Studio 2022 Professional Edition (90-Day Free Trial)
- Visual Studio 2022 Enterprise Edition (90-Day Free Trial)
If you are a student, or you just want to practice C# Programming, then you can select the Community Edition which is absolutely free. I am selecting the Community Edition and simply clicking on the free download button as shown in the above image. Once you click on the free download button, it will download the Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition EXE file as shown in the below image.
Open the .exe file
Simply click on the downloaded EXE file as shown in the below image.
Or you can also double click on the EXE file which is downloaded on your machine as shown in the below image.
Once you double click, it will open the below popup, simply click on the Yes button to continue.
Start the Visual Studio Installation
Once you click on the Yes button in the previous step, it will open the following window. From this screen, simply click on the continue button to start Visual Studio installation as shown in the below image.
Once you click on the Continue button, Visual Studio will start downloading the initial files. Download speed will vary as per your internet connection. Let the installation complete as shown in the below image.
Select the Visual Studio Features:
Once the initial files are downloaded, then you will get the following Visual Studio installer screen. Here, I am selecting two checkboxes.
- ASP.NET and Web Development: For developing WEB Based application
- .NET Desktop Development: For developing Console, Windows Form, WPF Applications
Once you select the above two checkboxes from the workload section, simply click on the Install button as shown in the below image.
Wait for the files to be downloaded
Once you click on the Install button, Visual Studio will start downloading the relevant files based on the features you selected in the previous step. This will take some time to download the required files. You can monitor the same as shown in the below image.
Sign in to Visual Studio
Once the download is completed, you will get the screen asking you to sign in to Visual Studio. You can sign in or you can sign in later also.
Open Visual Studio
Open the Visual Studio IDE. As we are opening for the first time, it will ask you to select the theme as per your choice and then simply click on the Start Visual Studio Button as shown in the below image.
That’s it. Now you are ready to develop .NET Applications using C# language in Visual Studio. In Visual Studio IDE, you can create new C# applications by clicking on Create a new project option as shown in the below image.
In our upcoming articles, we will discuss how to create different types of applications like Console, Windows Form, Web Applications, etc.
Download .NET Framework 4.8:
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet-framework/net48
Visual Studio Key Features
Here are the key features of Visual Studio:
- Creation of an application in any .Net language– The Visual Studio IDE can be used to develop.NET applications using any .NET Supported Programming language such as C#, VB, F#, etc.
- Creation of any application type – The Visual Studio IDE can be used to develop different types of .NET applications such as Web-based applications or Windows Forms-based applications, Console Applications, Web APIs, etc.
- Debug Applications on the fly – Applications can be tested as they are being built. The IDE allows one to run the program at any point of time during the development process. Hence, a developer can check for any errors during the development phase itself.
- Extensions –The IDE has the facility to install third-party extensions.
In the next article, I am going to discuss Creating the First C# Application using Visual Studio. Here, in this article, I try to explain How to Download and Install Visual Studio on Windows. and I hope you enjoy this How to Download and Install Visual Studio on Windows article.
