IIRC, you used to have to have a prior version installed in order to build using that tool set, but from what I gather now the platform tools are optionally installed with the newer version. At the time I installed 2019, I was using the 2017 version, I still have lots of projects using the 2017 platform tool set even though I only use vs2019.
So my question is if I can now uninstall VS2017 and continue to build using that platform toolkit in VS2019?
TIA!!
Yes, you can, but not the way you think. The vc141 toolkit (VS2017) also comes with 2019 and you have to install it separately.
uninstall VS2017 completely
open the Visual Studio Installer
click "modify" on the 2019 instance
go to "invidual components"
enter "v141" in the search field
install all components you need
IOW: The platform and toolkit for VS2017 are also contained in VS2019.
Now you can choose "v141" in the "Toolkit" property and you can even mix and match.
VS 2019 is RTM, and I was wondering what's the proper way to upgrade from VS 2017, is there a dedicated 'upgrade' method, or is it uninstall and install? Maybe install and uninstall?
What's the right way to do it without having to uninstall and reinstall same stuff for nothing?
We cannot directly upgrade VS 2017 to VS 2019. They are compatible and work side by side though (like the following). Please download and install VS 2019 from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/releases/2019/release-notes
On Visual Studio Installer, You will see two tabs : Installed and Available. On Installed Tab, Visual Studio Community 2017, Click on More Drop-down, Choose Uninstall. Reboot is recommended before you begin with Installing Visual Studio Community 2019 from Available Tab.
I've been recently upgrading to VS2017 and was wondering if there was any way I can use the SDKs I've already had downloaded for VS2015 ?
UPDATE: I think it should be possible for standalone SKDs like UWP, Xamarin.... !
SDKs are bind to VS versions strictly. Don't attempt to do so and make sure you have enough disk space to install Visual Studio 2017.
I am currently using Visual Studio 2015 for programming ASP.NET Core applications. I have the following questions regarding installing Visual Studio 2017:
What is considered to be best practice and/or cleanest method?
Should I install Visual Studio 2017 beside Visual Studio 2015?
Should I first uninstall Visual Studio 2015 and all .NET Core dependencies and then install Visual Studio 2017?
Are there any tools that would ensure a clean uninstall of Visual Studio 2015?
From page Visual Studio 2017 Platform Targeting and Compatibility
Compatibility with Previous Releases Installation
You can install and use Visual Studio 2017 alongside previous versions of Visual Studio, including Visual Studio 2015, Visual Studio 2013, and Visua Studio 2012.
So yes. you can install them without any problem.
VS 2013, VS 2015, and VS 2017 all work well side-by-side. VS 2012 can be a little dodgy on Windows 10, but should also work side-by-side. In theory VS 2010 should also work side-by-side with those, but I've run into quirks in the past with them interfering with one-another.
Projects should round-trip between 2015 and 2017 generally, although there are some one-way upgrade scenarios.
Note that if you really just need the older compiler toolset for some reason, you can also install VS 2017 and select the optional component Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.140 which installs the older v140 compiler which you can still use with the VS 2017 IDE. That said, there's not a lot of reason to do this since the VS 2015 & VS 2017 C++ standard libraries are binary compatible so you can mix them in a project.
See this blog post for information on VS 2017.
It sounds like you have done some projects in 2015 already, so you will probably want to keep it.
Once you open a project in a new version, it will try to upgrade the project and then you can't go back.
However, if you have multiple versions installed at the same time, when you try to open a project, say, from Windows Explorer, it will open it with the "Visual Studio Version Checker" and will look at the project file and determine which version to open it in.
Bottom line, if you have the hard drive space, there is no reason to not install them alongside each other.
In the past, it was recommended to install them in sequential order if you are installing multiple versions, but it doesn't sound like this is an issue for you and I don't know if that is even a problem anymore as it has been several versions since I have had to deal with that.
Good luck!
Personally, I would keep both - there have been multiple times through the years where you have compatibility issues and NEED to have the prior version(s). I've also had old project that will not upgrade and I've gone back and reinstalled old VS versions.
If you have no reason to keep VS2015 in your computer I would suggest uninstalling it.
I uninstalled VS2015 after installing VS2017 and later noticing that I was still using an old taskbar shortcut to VS2015.
So I was inadvertently still using VS2015.
Maybe some special cases require keeping older versions of VS along side the new version, but for the rest of us, I say, uninstall!
VS 2015 is the last version that is supported by Installshield LE.
If you have a need for building installers in the future, it will be useful to have VS 2015
1,2,3. Visual Studio 2017 has more features over 2015 and it contains 2015's current features so you don't need 2015 alongside 2017. Just stick with 2017. And I don't think you will have any problems while opening 2013 and 2015 projects with Visual Studio 2017.
Uninstall Tool is a good tool to use. It cleanses all the leftover files and registry entries after running the original uninstallation wizard and even tells you how many files will be cleaned after the required reboot.
For people continuing to read this, I have Visual Studio Professional 2008 (For Windows Embedded 6.5), 2010, 2015, 2017 and they all work even if open at the same time.
Edit: As stated in other answers, they need to be installed from oldest version to newest.
This question already has answers here:
Can I install two different versions of Visual Studio on the same computer?
(3 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
Is it possible? or there is a compatibility issues between the two versions? Because our company is using an outdated version of visual studio (VS2005) and I wanted to try out Visual Studio 2010/2012/2013 for the purpose of learning while there is no project to do. (any of the three newer version is fine) but I don't know if it'll affect the datas of the currently installed visual studio 2005.
Can I still install a newer version without affecting the older version of visual studio?
Yes you can install multiple versions of Visual studio side by side.But install the lower versions first.
If you use Visual Studio 2013 to open a solution that was created in Visual Studio 2012 or Visual Studio 2010 with Service Pack 1 (SP1), you can later open and modify the solution again in the older version as long as you haven't implemented any features that are specific to Visual Studio 2013.
So take care about backward compatibility.Refer this for more info.
You can install all (although I only have experience with VS 6 upwards) Visual Studio Versions side-by-side without problems.
I have vs2005 2008 and 2012 running with no issue. Just don't open your 2005 projects/solutions in later versions as this will attempt to convert them to later versions which then will be no longer compatible with 2005. Visual studio will give you plenty of warnings if you do this though.
Yes, this is possible. You can install Visual Studio versions side-by-side. However, Microsoft is recommending to install the old version first before you install the later version.
We recommend that you install Visual Studio versions in the order in which they were released. For example, install Visual Studio 2013 before you install Visual Studio 2015.
You can check this link for further info.
Yes, you can. If you need more details please check Installing Visual Studio Versions Side-by-Side .