Installing VS Code on Windows 10

In the previous post, Installing Visual Studio Code, we talked about why having Visual Studio makes coding easier. Let’s now walk together through the steps of installing Visual Studio Code on Windows computer. The process is very similar for other platforms (macOS and Linux) and other versions of Windows.

1. Click on the Visual Studio Code installer link. This should automatically start a download of a small executable file called VSCodeUserSetup-x64-1.30.0.exe. This is the VS Code installer that will download and install VS Code for you. Look for the downloaded file in the bottom left corner of your browser window.
   1. Chrome: Click on the downloaded file, select Open and then Run.
      
   2. Edge: Click Run in the download dialog.
      
   3. IE: Click Run in the download dialog.
      
2. You should now see the Visual Studio Code Setup Wizard:
   
3. Click “Next”.
4. Read the license terms, select “I accept the agreement”, and click “Next” again.
5. Leave the location for installing VS Code as is and click “Next” one more time.
   By default, the IDE will be installed into “C:\Users\{User Name}\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code”. This means that your account does not even need to have administrator privileges!
6. On the “Select StartMenu Folder” screen, leave everything as is and just click “Next”.
7. On the “Select Additional Tasks” screen, leave “Add to PATH” option checked. You may optionally also check all the other checkboxes. This will create a shortcut on your Desktop, make Visual Studio Code available in context (right-click) menus, and use Visual Studio Code for opening supported file types. Click “Next” one last time.
   
8. On the “Ready to Install” screen, review selected settings and click “Install”
9. The actual installation should complete in about 10 seconds, depending on your computer and internet connection speed.
10. Leave the “Launch Visual Studio Code” checkbox checked and click “Finish”.