visual studio community 2017 cannot login

Question

visual studio 2022 works but vc 2017 will not allow me to logon

Answer 1

Hi @j Murphy ,

Thanks for posting, and thanks @Nathan Roberts (SN) for jumping in.

Since VS 2022 signs in fine on the same machine, the issue is most likely the VS 2017 client, not your account. Please try these in order:

1. Update VS 2017 to the latest 15.9.x (currently 15.9.81, available from the Microsoft Update Catalog). Older builds can fail sign in because they do not use TLS 1.2 properly, see Azure DevOps requires TLS 1.2 on all connections including Visual Studio.
2. Close all VS instances, then rename or delete C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\.IdentityService and sign in again. The folder is recreated automatically.
3. Go to Tools > Options > Environment > Accounts and switch the sign in method to System browser or Embedded web browser.
4. Confirm no proxy, firewall or antivirus is blocking *.microsoft.com, *.visualstudio.com, *.microsoftonline.com, *.windows.net. Testing on a phone hotspot rules this out quickly.

Note that VS 2017 is in extended support until April 13, 2027, so it gets security fixes only, see Visual Studio 2017 lifecycle. If the problem persists, upgrading is the more reliable option.

If it still fails, please share the exact error message or code from the sign in dialog and I will take a closer look. A quick note here if any step worked would also help others finding this thread.

I hope this helps! If my answer was helpful so far, you can follow this guidance to provide some feedback. This also help others find the solution easier.