In Visual Studio Code, you can open an integrated terminal, initially starting at the root of your workspace. This can be convenient as you don't have to switch windows or alter the state of an existing terminal to perform a quick command-line task. To open the terminal: Use the ⌃` (Windows, Linux Ctrl+`) keyboard shortcut with the backtick character. Select 'Terminal: Select Default Shell'. The next time you try to open the terminal you should see 'CMD' instead of 'PowerShell'. If you want to always open cmd, you can use the settings to configure that. Correctly configuring your shell on Windows is a matter of.
- Download and install the tools. If you've installed Visual Studio and a C workload, you have all the command-line tools. For information on how to install C and Visual Studio, see Install C support in Visual Studio.If you only want the command-line toolset, download the Build Tools for Visual Studio.When you run the downloaded executable, it updates and runs the Visual Studio Installer.
- The easiest way to install Visual Studio Code for Debian/Ubuntu based distributions is to download and install the.deb package (64-bit), either through the graphical software center if it's available, or through the command line with.
Visual Studio 2019 includes two command-line shells for developers:
Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt - A standard command prompt with certain environment variables set to make using command-line developer tools easier. Available since Visual Studio 2015.
Visual Studio Developer PowerShell - More powerful than a command prompt. For example, you can pass the output of one command (known as a cmdlet) to another cmdlet. This shell has the same environment variables set as Developer Command Prompt. Available since Visual Studio 2019.
Starting in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5, Visual Studio includes an integrated terminal that can host either of these shells (Developer Command Prompt and Developer PowerShell). You can also open multiple tabs of each shell. The Visual Studio terminal is built on top of Windows Terminal. To open the terminal in Visual Studio, choose View > Terminal.
When you open one of the developer shells from Visual Studio, either as a separate app or in the Terminal window, it opens to the directory of your current solution (if you have a solution loaded). This behavior makes it convenient to run commands against the solution or its projects.
Both shells have specific environment variables set that enable you to use command-line developer tools more easily. After opening one of these shells, you can enter the commands for different utilities without having to know where they're located.
| Popular commands | Description |
|---|---|
MSBuild | Build a project or solution |
clrver | A .NET Framework tools for clr. |
ildasm | A .NET Framework tool for disassembler. |
dotnet | A .NET CLI command |
dotnet run | A .NET CLI command |
CL | C/C++ compile tool |
NMAKE | C/C++ compile tool |
LIB | C/C++ build tool |
DUMPBIN | C/C++ build tool |
Start in Visual Studio
Follow these steps to open Developer Command Prompt or Developer PowerShell from within Visual Studio:
Open Visual Studio.
On the menu bar, choose Tools > Command Line > Developer Command Prompt or Developer PowerShell.
Start from Windows menu
Another way to start the shells is from the Start menu. You may have multiple command prompts, depending on the version of Visual Studio and any additional SDKs and workloads you've installed.
Windows 10
Select Start and scroll to the letter V.
Expand the Visual Studio 2019 folder.
Choose Developer Command Prompt for VS 2019 or Developer PowerShell for VS 2019.
Alternatively, you can start typing the name of the shell in the search box on the taskbar, and choose the result you want as the result list starts to display the search matches.
Windows 8.1
Go to the Start screen, by pressing the Windows logo key on your keyboard for example.
On the Start screen, press Ctrl+Tab to open the Apps list, and then press V. This brings up a list that includes all installed Visual Studio command prompts.
Choose Developer Command Prompt for VS 2019 or Developer PowerShell for VS 2019.
Windows 7
Choose Start and then expand All Programs.
Choose Visual Studio 2019 > Visual Studio Tools > Developer Command Prompt for VS 2019 or Developer PowerShell for VS 2019.
If you have other SDKs installed, such as the Windows 10 SDK or previous versions, you may see additional command prompts. Check the documentation for the individual tools to determine which version of the command prompt you should use.
Start from file browser
Usually, the shortcuts for the shells you have installed are placed in the Start Menu folder for Visual Studio, such as in %ProgramData%MicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsVisual Studio 2019Visual Studio Tools. But if searching for the command prompt doesn't produce the expected results, you can try to manually locate the files on your machine.
Developer Command Prompt
Search for the name of the command prompt file, which is VsDevCmd.bat, or go to the Tools folder for Visual Studio, such as %ProgramFiles(x86)%Microsoft Visual Studio2019CommunityCommon7Tools (path changes according to your Visual Studio version, edition, and installation location).
Once you've located the command prompt file, open it by entering the following command in a regular command prompt window:
Or enter the following command in the Windows Run dialog box:
Tip
You'll need to edit the path to match your Visual Studio installation.
Developer PowerShell
Search for a PowerShell script file named Launch-VsDevShell.ps1, or go to the Tools folder for Visual Studio, such as %ProgramFiles(x86)%Microsoft Visual Studio2019CommunityCommon7Tools. (The path changes according to your Visual Studio version, edition, and installation location.) Once you've located the PowerShell file, run it by entering the following command at a Windows PowerShell or PowerShell 6 prompt:
By default, the Developer PowerShell that launches is configured for the Visual Studio installation whose install path the Launch-VsDevShell.ps1 file is located in.
Tip
The execution policy must be set in order for the cmdlet to run.
See also
Installation
See the Download Visual Studio Code page for a complete list of available installation options.
By downloading and using Visual Studio Code, you agree to the license terms and privacy statement.
Snap
Visual Studio Code is officially distributed as a Snap package in the Snap Store:
You can install it by running:
Once installed, the Snap daemon will take care of automatically updating VS Code in the background. You will get an in-product update notification whenever a new update is available.
Note: If snap isn't available in your Linux distribution, please check the following Installing snapd guide, which can help you get that set up.
Learn more about snaps from the official Snap Documentation.
Debian and Ubuntu based distributions
The easiest way to install Visual Studio Code for Debian/Ubuntu based distributions is to download and install the .deb package (64-bit), either through the graphical software center if it's available, or through the command line with:
Note that other binaries are also available on the VS Code download page.
Installing the .deb package will automatically install the apt repository and signing key to enable auto-updating using the system's package manager. Alternatively, the repository and key can also be installed manually with the following script:
Then update the package cache and install the package using:
RHEL, Fedora, and CentOS based distributions
We currently ship the stable 64-bit VS Code in a yum repository, the following script will install the key and repository:
Then update the package cache and install the package using dnf (Fedora 22 and above):
Or on older versions using yum:
Due to the manual signing process and the system we use to publish, the yum repo may lag behind and not get the latest version of VS Code immediately.
openSUSE and SLE-based distributions
The yum repository above also works for openSUSE and SLE-based systems, the following script will install the key and repository:
Then update the package cache and install the package using:
AUR package for Arch Linux
There is a community-maintained Arch User Repository package for VS Code.
To get more information about the installation from the AUR, please consult the following wiki entry: Install AUR Packages.
Nix package for NixOS (or any Linux distribution using Nix package manager)
There is a community maintained VS Code Nix package in the nixpkgs repository. In order to install it using Nix, set allowUnfree option to true in your config.nix and execute:
Installing .rpm package manually
The VS Code .rpm package (64-bit) can also be manually downloaded and installed, however, auto-updating won't work unless the repository above is installed. Once downloaded it can be installed using your package manager, for example with dnf:
Note that other binaries are also available on the VS Code download page.
Updates
VS Code ships monthly and you can see when a new release is available by checking the release notes. If the VS Code repository was installed correctly, then your system package manager should handle auto-updating in the same way as other packages on the system.
Note: Updates are automatic and run in the background for the Snap package.
Node.js
Node.js is a popular platform and runtime for easily building and running JavaScript applications. It also includes npm, a Package Manager for Node.js modules. You'll see Node.js and npm mentioned frequently in our documentation and some optional VS Code tooling requires Node.js (for example, the VS Code extension generator).
If you'd like to install Node.js on Linux, see Installing Node.js via package manager to find the Node.js package and installation instructions tailored to your Linux distribution. You can also install and support multiple versions of Node.js by using the Node Version Manager.
To learn more about JavaScript and Node.js, see our Node.js tutorial, where you'll learn about running and debugging Node.js applications with VS Code.
Setting VS Code as the default text editor
xdg-open
You can set the default text editor for text files (text/plain) that is used by xdg-open with the following command:
Debian alternatives system
Debian-based distributions allow setting a default editor using the Debian alternatives system, without concern for the MIME type. You can set this by running the following and selecting code:
If Visual Studio Code doesn't show up as an alternative to editor, you need to register it:
Windows as a Linux developer machine
Another option for Linux development with VS Code is to use a Windows machine with the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
Windows Subsystem for Linux
With WSL, you can install and run Linux distributions on Windows. This enables you to develop and test your source code on Linux while still working locally on a Windows machine. WSL supports Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Debian, SUSE, and Alpine available from the Microsoft Store.
When coupled with the Remote - WSL extension, you get full VS Code editing and debugging support while running in the context of a Linux distro on WSL.
See the Developing in WSL documentation to learn more or try the Working in WSL introductory tutorial.
Next steps
Once you have installed VS Code, these topics will help you learn more about it:
- Additional Components - Learn how to install Git, Node.js, TypeScript, and tools like Yeoman.
- User Interface - A quick orientation to VS Code.
- User/Workspace Settings - Learn how to configure VS Code to your preferences through settings.
Common questions
Azure VM Issues
I'm getting a 'Running without the SUID sandbox' error?
Visual Studio Code Cmd Terminal
You can safely ignore this error. Netflix per mac download.
Debian and moving files to trash
If you see an error when deleting files from the VS Code Explorer on the Debian operating system, it might be because the trash implementation that VS Code is using is not there.
Run these commands to solve this issue:
Conflicts with VS Code packages from other repositories
Some distributions, for example Pop!_OS provide their own code package. To ensure the official VS Code repository is used, create a file named /etc/apt/preferences.d/code with the following content:
'Visual Studio Code is unable to watch for file changes in this large workspace' (error ENOSPC)
When you see this notification, it indicates that the VS Code file watcher is running out of handles because the workspace is large and contains many files. Before adjusting platform limits, make sure that potentially large folders, such as Python .venv, are added to the files.watcherExclude setting (more details below). The current limit can be viewed by running:
The limit can be increased to its maximum by editing /etc/sysctl.conf (except on Arch Linux, read below) and adding this line to the end of the file:
The new value can then be loaded in by running sudo sysctl -p.
While 524,288 is the maximum number of files that can be watched, if you're in an environment that is particularly memory constrained, you may wish to lower the number. Each file watch takes up 1080 bytes, so assuming that all 524,288 watches are consumed, that results in an upper bound of around 540 MiB.
Arch-based distros (including Manjaro) require you to change a different file; follow these steps instead.
Another option is to exclude specific workspace directories from the VS Code file watcher with the files.watcherExcludesetting. The default for files.watcherExclude excludes node_modules and some folders under .git, but you can add other directories that you don't want VS Code to track.
I can't see Chinese characters in Ubuntu
We're working on a fix. In the meantime, open the application menu, then choose File > Preferences > Settings. In the Text Editor > Font section, set 'Font Family' to Droid Sans Mono, Droid Sans Fallback. If you'd rather edit the settings.json file directly, set editor.fontFamily as shown:
Package git is not installed
This error can appear during installation and is typically caused by the package manager's lists being out of date. Try updating them and installing again:
The code bin command does not bring the window to the foreground on Ubuntu
Running code . on Ubuntu when VS Code is already open in the current directory will not bring VS Code into the foreground. This is a feature of the OS which can be disabled using ccsm.
Under General > General Options > Focus & Raise Behaviour, set 'Focus Prevention Level' to 'Off'. Remember this is an OS-level setting that will apply to all applications, not just VS Code.
Cannot install .deb package due to '/etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list: No such file or directory'
This can happen when sources.list.d doesn't exist or you don't have access to create the file. To fix this, try manually creating the folder and an empty vscode.list file:
Cannot move or resize the window while X forwarding a remote window
If you are using X forwarding to use VS Code remotely, you will need to use the native title bar to ensure you can properly manipulate the window. You can switch to using it by setting window.titleBarStyle to native.
Using the custom title bar
The custom title bar and menus were enabled by default on Linux for several months. The custom title bar has been a success on Windows, but the customer response on Linux suggests otherwise. Based on feedback, we have decided to make this setting opt-in on Linux and leave the native title bar as the default.
The custom title bar provides many benefits including great theming support and better accessibility through keyboard navigation and screen readers. Unfortunately, these benefits do not translate as well to the Linux platform. Linux has a variety of desktop environments and window managers that can make the VS Code theming look foreign to users. For users needing the accessibility improvements, we recommend enabling the custom title bar when running in accessibility mode using a screen reader. You can still manually set the title bar with the Window: Title Bar Style (window.titleBarStyle) setting.
Broken cursor in editor with display scaling enabled
Due to an upstream issue #14787 with Electron, the mouse cursor may render incorrectly with scaling enabled. If you notice that the usual text cursor is not being rendered inside the editor as you would expect, try falling back to the native menu bar by configuring the setting window.titleBarStyle to native.
Repository changed its origin value
If you receive an error similar to the following:
Visual Studio Code Command Palette
Use apt instead of apt-get and you will be prompted to accept the origin change: