Command-line parameter examples for Visual Studio installation

Article
03/10/2023
6 minutes to read

Applies to: Visual Studio Visual Studio for Mac Visual Studio Code

To illustrate how to use command-line parameters to install Visual Studio, here are several examples that you can customize to match your needs.

In each example, vs_enterprise.exe, vs_professional.exe and vs_community.exe represent the respective edition of the Visual Studio bootstrapper, which is the small (~1MB) file that initiates the download process. If you're using a different edition, substitute the appropriate bootstrapper name.

All commands require administrative elevation, and a User Account Control prompt will be displayed if the process isn't started from an elevated prompt.

You can use the ^ character at the end of a command line to concatenate multiple lines into a single command. Alternatively, you can place these lines together onto a single row. In PowerShell, the equivalent is the backtick (`) character.

For lists of the workloads and components that you can install by using the command line, see the Visual Studio workload and component IDs page.

Install using --installPath

Install a minimal instance of Visual Studio, with no interactive prompts but progress displayed:

vs_enterprise.exe --installPath C:\minVS ^
--add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.CoreEditor ^
--passive --norestart

Install a desktop instance of Visual Studio silently, with the French language pack, returning only when the product is installed.

vs_enterprise.exe --installPath C:\desktopVS ^
--addProductLang fr-FR ^
--add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.ManagedDesktop ^
--includeRecommended --quiet --wait

Update in two steps

Update a Visual Studio instance via the command line, with no interactive prompts but progress displayed. If the bootstrapper is on the client machine, then you can run this command from the client. Otherwise, you'll need to run this command from the layout. The first command updates the installer, and the second command updates the Visual Studio product.
```
vs_enterprise.exe --update --quiet --wait
vs_enterprise.exe update --wait --passive --norestart --installPath "C:\installPathVS"
```
Note

The first command updates the Visual Studio installer and the second command updates the Visual Studio product bits. It is recommended to run and complete both commands in order. To avoid a User Account Control dialog, run the command prompt as an Administrator.

Using --wait

Use --wait in batch files or scripts to wait for the Visual Studio installer to complete before the next command is executed. For batch files, an %ERRORLEVEL% environment variable will contain the return value of the command, as documented in the Use command-line parameters to install Visual Studio page. Some command utilities require additional parameters to wait for completion and to get the installer's return value. The following command is an example of the additional parameters used with the PowerShell script command 'Start-Process':

start /wait vs_professional.exe --installPath "C:\VS" --passive --wait > nul
echo %errorlevel%

$process = Start-Process -FilePath vs_enterprise.exe -ArgumentList "--installPath", "C:\VS", "--passive", "--wait" -Wait -PassThru
Write-Output $process.ExitCode

  $startInfo = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
  $startInfo.FileName = "vs_enterprise.exe"
  $startInfo.Arguments = "--all --quiet --wait"
  $process = New-Object System.Diagnostics.Process
  $process.StartInfo = $startInfo
  $process.Start()
  $process.WaitForExit()

The first '--wait' is used by the Visual Studio Installer, and the second '-Wait' is used by 'Start-Process' to wait for completion. The '-PassThru' parameter is used by 'Start-Process' to use the installer's exit code for its return value.

Using --layout to create a network layout or a local cache

Create a layout that includes only the Visual Studio core editor (the most minimal Visual Studio configuration) and the English language pack:
```
vs_professional.exe --layout C:\VS ^
--lang en-US ^
--add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.CoreEditor
```

Create a layout that includes the .NET desktop and .NET web workloads, along with all recommended components, English only.

vs_professional.exe --layout C:\VS ^
--lang en-US ^
--add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NetWeb ^
--add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.ManagedDesktop ^
--includeRecommended

Use --config to configure the contents of a layout:

vs_enterprise.exe --layout C:\layout --config "C:\myconfig.vsconfig" --useLatestInstaller

Using --all to acquire the entire product

Start an interactive installation of all workloads and components that are available in the Visual Studio Enterprise edition:
```
vs_enterprise.exe --all
```

Using --includeRecommended

Install a second instance of Visual Studio Professional using a nickname on a machine with Visual Studio Community edition already installed, with support for Node.js development:
```
vs_professional.exe --installPath C:\VSforNode ^
--add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Node --includeRecommended --nickname VSforNode
```

Using --channelURI

Using the Visual Studio 2022 or later installer, it's possible to configure where Visual Studio looks for updates. The --channelURI is otherwise known as the update channel or the source location of updates. The following table gives example values for channelId and channelURI and what they mean.

Channel Name	--channelURI	--channelId
Visual Studio 2022 Current channel	`https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/channel`	`VisualStudio.17.Release`
Visual Studio 2022 17.0 LTSC channel	`https://aka.ms/vs/17/release.LTSC.17.0/channel`	`VisualStudio.17.Release.LTSC.17.0`
Visual Studio 2022 Preview channel	`https://aka.ms/vs/17/pre/channel`	`VisualStudio.17.Preview`
Visual Studio 2019 Release channel	`https://aka.ms/vs/16/release/channel`	`VisualStudio.16.Release`
Visual Studio 2017 Release channel	`https://aka.ms/vs/15/release/channel`	`VisualStudio.15.Release`
Custom layout - Private Channel	`\\layoutserver\share\path\channelmanifest.json`	`VisualStudio.17.Release` (or whatever the layout was based on)

If you choose to use a custom layout as the update channel, then be aware of the following guidelines:

the --channelURI must point to the 'channelmanifest.json' file in the custom layout.
Administrators can configure how the custom layout "Private Channel" is displayed in the Update Settings UI by configuring the client's registry settings.

Using --remove

Remove the Profiling Tools component from the default installed Visual Studio instance:

vs_enterprise.exe modify ^
--installPath "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Enterprise" ^
--remove Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.DiagnosticTools ^
--passive

Using --removeOos

Note

This command requires using the VS 2022 version 17.4 or later installer. Follow the guidance here for how to acquire the latest installer on your client machine.

Modify an installation and remove all components that have transitioned to an out-of-support state from the default installed Visual Studio instance:
```
vs_enterprise.exe modify ^
--installPath "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Enterprise" ^
--removeOos true ^
--passive
```

Adjust the update settings to persistently remove all components that have transitioned to an out-of-support state every time the product updates:

vs_enterprise.exe modifySettings ^
--channelURI https://aka.ms/vs/17/release.LTSC.17.0/channel ^
--productID Microsoft.VisualStudio.Product.Enterprise ^
--newChannelURI \\layoutserver\share\path\channelmanifest.json ^
--removeOos true ^
--quiet

Using --path

Use the install, cache, and shared paths:

vs_enterprise.exe --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.CoreEditor --path install="C:\VS" --path cache="C:\VS\cache" --path shared="C:\VS\shared"
Use only the install and cache paths:

vs_enterprise.exe --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.CoreEditor --path install="C:\VS" --path cache="C:\VS\cache"
Use only the install and shared paths:

vs_enterprise.exe --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.CoreEditor --path install="C:\VS" --path shared="C:\VS\shared"
Use only the install path:

vs_enterprise.exe --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.CoreEditor --path install="C:\VS"

Using export

Use export to save the selection from an installation:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vs_installer.exe" export --installPath "C:\VS" --config "C:\.vsconfig"

Use export to save custom selection from scratch:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vs_installer.exe" export --channelId VisualStudio.17.Release --productId Microsoft.VisualStudio.Product.Enterprise --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.ManagedDesktop --includeRecommended --config "C:\.vsconfig"

Using --config

Use --config to install the workloads and components from a previously saved installation configuration file:
```
vs_enterprise.exe --config "C:\my.vsconfig" --installPath "C:\VS"
```

Use --config to add workloads and components to an existing installation:

vs_enterprise.exe modify --installPath "C:\VS" --config "C:\my.vsconfig"

Use --config to configure the contents of a layout:

vs_enterprise.exe --layout C:\layout --config "C:\my.vsconfig" --useLatestInstaller

Using winget

Use the Windows Package Manager "winget" tool to programmatically install or update Visual Studio on your machines along with other packages managed by winget. To customize the installation and specify additional workloads and components, you can use winget's --override switch alongside winget's install command, and pass in an exported vsconfig file like this:

winget install --id Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.Community --override "--passive --config c:\my.vsconfig"

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:

We offer an installation chat (English only) support option for installation-related issues.
Report product issues to us via 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 here.
Suggest a feature, track product issues, and find answers in the Visual Studio Developer Community.