Downloading and Installing

The easiest, most direct, and no-cost way to obtain Microsoft Visual Studio for use on your Windows computer is to download the Visual Studio 2022 Community edition from visualstudio.microsoft.com.

(Be sure to download Visual Studio, and not Visual Studio Code. If you are a macOS user, download and install Xcode instead.)

Installation Notes

• During the installation process, you'll be asked to choose what kinds of projects you plan on creating. Be sure to select the item labeled “Desktop Development with C++”.

• Once you've got Visual Studio installed, check that it's not running in trial mode. Go to the File menu, and select “Account Settings...”

  If you are running in trial mode, you'll need to create and/or login with a Microsoft account. This is different than all your other accounts, and it's probably easiest to use your Los Rios Gmail address when creating the account.