Is possible to retrieve VS 2017 Product Key? - visual-studio

I got my VS 2017 product key from my University Program, now Microsoft changed the site and I can't retrieve anymore my old product keys, but actually VS 2017 has a valid product key. I want to store it so I'm looking a way to retrieve this from my licensed VS 2017.
I found that VS 2017 doesn't store product key in registry anymore, so there is another way to find it?

I haven't found info on extracting the plaintext product key, but it's still stored in the registry, just in an encoded format. See How to change Visual Studio 2017 License Key?. You might be able to export/import the relevant registry key to your new computer.

I have answered this in Retrieve Visual Studio 2017 (Enterprise) Key from privateregistry
Depending on which version you have, you might have to change the last digit of the registry key.

Related

VS 2017 credentials cache registry key created for some users and not others - why?

This is a follow on from this question.
There is a registry key used to cache VS 2017 credentials:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VSCommon\14.0\ClientServices\TokenStorage\VisualStudio\VssApp
This key has been created for some of our developers but not others.
I would like to know why?
Is there some special way to log in that creates this key? We obviously all have to log in to use VS 2017.
Why do some of us have this key and others do not?
NOTE: special thanks to #starian who helped me with the previous question.
VS2015 and the TFS ExtendedClient Library stores and uses the credential in that registry path but VS2017 does not. I suspect that some of your developers signed in with VS2015 before and then upgraded to VS2017 or they signed in with the ExtendClient Library before.

Using VS 2013 with an activation key after BizSpark graduation?

If Visual Studio 2013 was activated using a static activation key obtained through BizSpark in 2014, will it still work after graduation date in 2017?
Never signed in to VS. Product Information says "License Product key applied".
I remember seeing an email from Microsoft somewhere in 2015 that said something like:
"If you have saved your product key before [some_date_in_2015] you will be able to continue using Visual Studio 2013 after you graduate."
Does that still apply?
The answer is simply - YES.
Confirmed first hand. It still works like it worked since the day one.
The important thing is that Visual Studio 2013 was activated using a static activation key obtained through BizSpark and activated before Microsoft changed the activation policy to login-only (around mid 2015).
There is a slight possibility that it is still possible to install VS V2013 using the old ISO installation image and activate it using a static key.

How do I manage a private gallery in vs 2017 using registry like I did in vs 2015?

How to: Manage a Private Gallery By Using Registry Settings https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh266735.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396
The above article details how I am doing it in 2015 by modifying the registry but the problem is that VS does not store this info in the registry anymore (I don't think so). It used to be in the ExtensionManager folder in vs 2015 ([HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\ExtensionManager\Repositories...) but that folder no longer exists (along with 30 or so others that are missing).
Supposedly VS stores them in a private registry now:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/extensibility/breaking-changes-2017#visual-studio-registry
I don't understand if I will be able to use the registry in the same way as before and if not, what is the recommendation for the easiest way to do that...basically we use the registry to install our private VS extension gallery into developers machines by simply clicking a .reg file so they don't have to set that up themselves...actually same same as what this answer says: Programmatically specify Private Extension Gallery in Visual Studio 2012
I'd rather not create an atom feed but if thats the last resort then i'm all ears.
Thanks

Visual Studio 2013 SQL Schema Compare: Ignore Column Order

In Visual Studio 2013, is there a way to ignore column ordering when doing a Schema Compare? I see that this feature was removed from Visual Studio 2012 (according to this: https://stackoverflow.com/a/13848952/188740), but I'm hoping it was brought back in version 2013.
Here's a quick visual to illustrate what I'd like to ignore:
As described on this blog post, Ignore column order is now an option in SSDT version 17.0, which is compatible with Visual Studio 2015.
If you’ve ever had to deal with accidental data
motion when putting a column in the middle of a table definition,
you’ll know how hard this can be to spot and manage. In this release
you can now check the “Ignore Column Order” option in the Advanced
Publish Options. This will append new columns to the end of an
existing table rather than altering the table structure to add the
column in its listed position.
You can find the setting by going into the Advanced... button section of your publish profile, as well as in the Advanced... button section of the database project properties' Debug tab.
You can also achieve the same effect by adding the following element to your publish.xml file:
<IgnoreColumnOrder>True</IgnoreColumnOrder>
Unfortunately I do not know of a way to have this work in Visual Studio 2013, but hopefully you have upgraded to a newer version of Visual Studio by now :)
Ignore column order is now available in VS2015.
Additionally, for relational and Azure SQL databases SSDT 17.0 GA includes a highly requested improvement to ignore column order in upgrade plans as well as numerous other bug fixes. 
See: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ssdt/2017/04/19/announcing-the-general-availability-ga-release-of-ssdt-17-0-april-2017/
The 'Ignore column order' setting is not available in visual studio 2013. There are Tentive to reintroduce this option in the future.
Sources: Microsoft
This feature is also available in Azure Data studio -> Schema Compare -> Ignore Column Order.

Is Visual Studio 2013 Professional not available through WebsiteSpark?

I am aware that WebsiteSpark has been cancelled (along with Technet), but I know the accounts are still active until March.
I went to grab VS 2013 Professional only to find the following message:
This product is not available at your subscription level. Learn More
Will WebsiteSpark users be getting Visual Studio 2013?
I think you have to buy a MSDN subscription, buy you can try the Release candidate before it is released officially.
Go to your product keys page:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/keys/
If a key is listed for VS 2013 then you should be able to try it out.
You can download it from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/products/2013-editions#d-professional
Then, after installing, instead of signing into your account, you can register the product with the static key.
Here is what MS says:
"The product key is not embedded with Visual Studio 2013. When you launch the product, you can simply sign in with the Microsoft account associated with your MSDN subscription and your IDE will automatically activate. An added benefit of signing in to Visual Studio is that your IDE settings will sync across devices, and you can connect to online developer services. If you’d rather enter a product key, then simply bypass signing in and enter the product key found here by selecting Register Product under the Help menu."

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