From what I read about these posting and elsewhere, regarding the issue of why I cannot install Microsoft VC++ 2015 runtime redistributable if I already have Microsoft VC++ 2017 runtime installed.
The reason for this "cannot install" is because once you have Microsoft VC++ 2017 installed, there is no need to install 2015 version,as 2017 subsume 2015. Am I right?
Secondly, and more crucially, from now onwards if I have a higher version of Microsoft VC++ installed, I can safely skip the lower version, this is going to be Microsoft strategy: going forward there is only one version of Microsoft VC++ ( the latest one). Am I right? I remember I read this elsewhere, but not sure my understanding is correct or not, and now I couldn't find the blog post. So I hope that I can get some confirmation here.
The VC++ runtime redistributables are the same for VS 2015, 2017 and 2019! From Microsoft Support:
Note Visual C++ 2015, 2017 and 2019 all share the same redistributable files.
However, there have been many different versions of this redistributable package released! The installer programs (linked below) will do the required checks, to see if a more recent version is already present on the target computer, and signal if so.
The runtime libraries that comprise this redistributable package are sometimes (confusingly) referred to as Visual C++ "14" Runtime Libraries. (The "14" comes from the fact the Visual Studio 2015 includes version 14 of the MSVC compiler; VS2017 = MSVC v15; and VS2019 = MSVC v16.)
Whether or not future versions of Visual C++ will also share the same redistributable package is not certain.
The latest versions, for the three supported processor platforms, can be downloaded and/or installed from the following links:
x86 - vc_redist.x86.exe
x64 - vc_redist.x64.exe
arm64 - vc_redist.arm64.exe
EDIT: There may be some confusion, here, over the 'version check' I mentioned above! From the same Microsoft Support page:
For example, installing the Visual C++ 2019 redistributable will
affect programs built with Visual C++ 2015 and 2017 also. However,
installing the Visual C++ 2015 redistributable will not replace the
newer versions of the files installed by the Visual C++ 2017 and 2019
redistributables. This is different from all previous Visual C++
versions, as they each had their own distinct runtime files, not
shared with other versions.
I interpret this as meaning that, if you have an 'older' version of the vc_redist installation (released, say, with VS2015), it's components will be updated by any newer installation. However, running an older installer will not conflict with a more recent installation.
I currently have installed Visual Studio 2017 Enterprise version 15.9.15 (the latest available in Visual Studio Installer). I want to downgrade to version 15.9.11 due to some issues in my project. I have the installer for 15.9.11 but every time I run the installer, Visual Studio Installer is trying to install the 15.9.15 version.
I've tried with different versions but Visual Studio Installer always switches to 15.9.15 regardless. Is there any other way to downgrade? I've searched online but with no luck.
I have Visual Studio build Tools 2017 installed on my PC.
Is it OK to uninstall Visual Studio Build Tools 2017 after installing the 2019 version? Is there software that cannot be built by 2019 version and instead requires 2017 to be built?
I am using Visual Studio Community 2019.
They are a separate set of tools, therefore you can safely remove the old building tools without affecting the stability of Visual Studio 2019.
However, MSbuild 16 shipped with Visual Studio 2019 introduces new features and some breaking changes which could result in compatibility problems (here the main announcement).
In case you run into them, you can always install the old Visual Studio 2017 Build Tools in Visual Studio 2019 by selecting the old tools via individual component. Then, you can change the toolset of the offending project by specifying the version you need as stated in msbuild documentation.
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.
In my early Linux days things were easy: I just could install the newest gcc-compiler and everything was fine. In contrast, Visual Studio confuses me a bit with it's various download options, whereas all I want is the newest C++ compiler in order to apply C++11 and C++14 features -- and that preferably without having to download gigabites of data. Can somebody help me with this issue?
Currently I use the free version of VS 2013 with the November 2013 CTP compiler.
How new does the compiler get when staying in VS 2013 (until the official VS 2015 comes out)?
Are there some "good practices" for switching to VS 2015 CTP? Is there also a free version (I only recognized the Ultimate version so far)? When I install this VS 2015 CTP, do I have to download the whole official stuff again once it is released, or can I update?
The VS 2015 CTP is under a preview license, so there's currently only the single edition out. When it is released, all the various editions for it will be created.
You should look into the new Community edition (currently VS 2013 Community) which is more full-featured than VS 2013 Express for Windows Desktop.