Visual Studio Subscription Support

Search the FAQ to find answers to common support questions about subscriptions, accounts, and billing. Use the buttons on the right to switch between subscriber and administrator.

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I'm a new administrator. Where is everything I need to know?

The administrator webpage has all your updates, videos and important links. Then, written guidance on being an administrator is in our documentation.

How do I manage administrators?

If you are a Super Admin you can add or remove other Super Admins or Administrators. Administrators can only add or remove subscribers and will not see the Manage Administrators tab in the Admin Portal.

To manage administrators:

  1. Select the Manage Administrators tab at the top of the page on manage.visualstudio.com.
  2. To add, select Add and type the name and email address of the person you would like to add, select the appropriate agreement from the drop down menu, select the language that they should receive their welcome email in, and select Super Admin.
  3. To remove, simply select the person you would like to remove and select Delete.

Cloud subscriptions are managed by administrators who are assigned to the Azure subscription used to purchase the cloud subscriptions. The owner of the subscription is automatically assigned as the first administrator.

To assign more administrators:

  1. Connect to the Azure Portal at portal.azure.com
  2. Sign in with the account you used to purchase the Visual Studio Cloud subscriptions.
  3. In the left navigation pane, scroll down to Cost Management + Billing.
  4. In the My subscriptions list, choose the Azure subscription that you used to make the purchase.
  5. Click Access control, which is located near the top of the list in the left navigation pane.
  6. Click the Add tab at the top of the page.
  7. In the fly-out pane on the right, click on the name of the subscriber you wish to make an administrator.
  8. Click on the Role drop-down at the top of the pane, scroll down, and select User Access Administrator.
  9. Click Save.

Learn more about administration of cloud subscriptions.

How do I assign Visual Studio subscriptions?

You can assign subscriptions to your end users one at a time, or using the Bulk add feature to quickly and easily upload a larger number of subscribers at a time.

To assign subscriptions individually:

  1. Select the Manage Subscribers tab at the top of the page on manage.visualstudio.com
  2. Select Add and type the name and email address of the user you'd like to assign a subscription to.
    1. If your organization is using Azure Active Directory the name field will search to find people in your current directory. You can select from the search results, or add someone manually.

    To Bulk assign subscriptions:

    1. Select the Manage Subscribers tab at the top of the page on manage.visualstudio.com.
    2. Select Bulk add, download the Excel template, and save a local copy.
    3. All fields are required, with the exception of the Reference field.
      1. Ensure that none of the form fields contain commas.
      2. Remove spaces before and after form fields.
      3. Ensure names do not contain extra spaces between two-part first or last names (for example, if a person has a two-part first name such as 'Maggie May', it should be typed as 'MaggieMay').

      Read more information about assigning subscriptions in the Visual Studio Subscriptions Administrator portal to learn more about quickly and easily assigning subscriptions. Learn more about managing Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise.

      What is the GitHub Enterprise setup process?

      GitHub Enterprise is set up and managed separately from Visual Studio subscriptions. Following a Visual Studio subscription with GitHub Enterprise purchase, a GitHub Enterprise account setup process is initiated in parallel with (but separate from) establishing an agreement in manage.visualstudio.com. Establishing this GitHub Enterprise account may take some time.

      After your company has set up a GitHub Enterprise account, subscribers who have been assigned Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise will receive an email from GitHub notifying them that their Visual Studio subscriptions have been linked. After subscribers receive this email, they can reach out to their GitHub organization administrator to receive an invitation to the appropriate organization.

      Read more about managing Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise. Reference subscriber documentation for additional details on the GitHub Enterprise set up process.

      What is the difference between a Sign-in email address and a Notification email address?

      Individuals who are assigned a subscription will receive periodic communications from the Visual Studio team, including an email letting them know they have been assigned a subscription. If these emails should be sent to a separate email address than that which they should sign into the Visual Studio Subscriptions Portal or VS IDE you can add a notification email address when adding a subscriber, or when editing an existing subscriber.

      I have a new agreement. How do I move my subscribers?

      You can export your subscribers from your previous agreement and add them to your new agreement using the Bulk add button.

      Note: your subscribers will receive an email when the new subscription is assigned to them. Learn more about exporting subscribers and using the Bulk add feature. If you have more than 200 subscribers on your previous agreement our support team can assist you. Select Account, Subscription, and Billing Support and select your country/region. Depending on your location, support may be available via email, chat, or phone.

      Why is the portal not showing the correct number of Visual Studio subscriptions for my agreement?

      If you're not seeing the correct number of subscriptions for your agreement, you may have the wrong agreement selected in the portal. Click on the drop-down in the top left to see all available agreements. If you are still seeing an incorrect number of subscriptions our support team can assist you. Select Account, Subscription, and Billing Support and select your country/region. Depending on your location, support may be available via email, chat, or phone.

      How can I select an end date for a subscription?

      Subscriptions are always assigned using the best available end date. For example, if your agreement has orders with an end date of 6/20/2020 and another one with an end date of 6/20/2021 the first subscription to be assigned from those two available will end on 6/20/2021. If you have a trusted agreement in an overallocated state, the end date will be 3 years from the date the subscription was assigned.

      Why does my SLP agreement have an end date, and why is it sometimes different for my subscribers?

      SLP and MPSA agreements don't expire, however our portal currently requires an end date when provisioning the agreement. We currently use an end date of 20+ years in the future for each order under your SLP. If you have multiple orders under your SLP agreement from different days, they will have different end dates.

      What is the GitHub setup process?

      GitHub Enterprise is set up and managed separately from Visual Studio subscriptions. Following a Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise purchase, a GitHub Enterprise account setup process is initiated in parallel with (but separate from) establishing an agreement in manage.visualstudio.com. Establishing this GitHub Enterprise account may take some time.
      After your company has set up a GitHub Enterprise account, subscribers who have been assigned Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise will receive an email from GitHub notifying them that their Visual Studio subscriptions have been linked. After subscribers receive this email, they can reach out to their GitHub organization administrator to receive an invitation to the appropriate organization.

      Read more about managing Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise. Reference subscriber documentation for additional details on the GitHub Enterprise set up process.

      Why am I not seeing an agreement while logged into the portal?

      If you are logged into https://manage.visualstudio.com/ and do not see an agreement you manage:

      1. Check if you’re signed in with the correct email address and tenant in the upper right-hand corner of the portal page header.
      2. Contact the super admin who added you as an admin to see what alias you should be using, if you were removed, or if the agreement has expired. If none of these simple solutions solves the issue, contact support to determine if you are in fact an admin on an agreement.

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      • Downloads and Benefits
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      How do my end users activate their Visual Studio Subscription?

      The subscription is active and can be used as soon as it has been assigned from within the Visual Studio Administrator portal. Your subscriber can sign into the Visual Studio Subscribers portal or VS IDE right away, and will receive a welcome email letting them know the subscription has been assigned.

      What benefits and software is available to my subscriber once a Visual Studio subscription has been assigned?

      The Visual Studio Subscription benefits page allows you to see and compare the full list of benefits and software downloads included with a Visual Studio Subscription, based on subscription level.

      How do my developers download Visual Studio?

      The developers' assigned subscription levels identify which level of the Visual Studio IDE they have access to. For example, a Visual Studio Professional subscription does not have access to Visual Studio Enterprise. Make sure that you have assigned the correct level.

      For the latest release

      1. Have your subscribers sign into the subscriptions portal at https://my.visualstudio.com/benefits.
      2. Locate the Visual Studio IDE tile in the Tools section and click on the Download link at the bottom of the benefit tile.
      3. They’ll be redirected to the Download Results page for Visual Studio to download the IDE.
      4. Follow the download and set up instructions.
      5. Using the email their subscription is assigned to, they’ll be able to immediately sign into the IDE after installation; no product key is required. Learn how to claim a product key for use in an offline environment.

      Find older versions

      Your subscribers can also search and download previous versions from the downloads page in the subscriptions portal at https://my.visualstudio.com.

      How do my developers activate software using product keys from their Visual Studio subscription?

      Depending on what product your subscriber has downloaded it can either be activated by logging in using the email address tied to the subscription, or subscribers can activate it by claiming a product key from the Visual Studio Subscriber portal.

      How do my developers get 50% off Azure Dev/Test workloads?

      If your organization has an Enterprise Agreement for Azure, your subscribers can receive discounted Azure dev/test rates for various Azure services, enabling cost-efficient development and testing. For details on how to enable the Dev/Test pricing option for your developers, check out the video Help your subscribers get the most out of Azure.

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      • Signing in
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      What is the difference between using a Microsoft Account vs Work account?

      A Microsoft Account (MSA) is a personal email account owned by an individual to access Microsoft services when an organization is not using a managed tenant for Microsoft 365 or Azure Active Directory. A work account is one owned by the organization that issues it and is used to access services on Microsoft 365 or Azure Active Directory tenants. For complete information about the differences between MSAs and work accounts, see 'Learn about the differences in using MSAs (Microsoft Accounts) vs. Work Accounts (Azure Active Directory or Microsoft 365) and how this may impact your organization'.

      What does it mean when my subscribers add alternate identities?

      Adding an alternate account allows your developers to access some of their Visual Studio subscription benefits (VS IDE, Azure DevOps, and Azure) with a different identity than that which the subscription is assigned to. An alternate ID doesn't provide a copy of the subscription to the other account; it only provides access to the two benefits with the alternate account. Read more about Visual Studio Subscription identities.

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      • Purchasing, renewing, canceling and billing
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      How do I purchase Visual Studio subscriptions?

      Visual Studio subscriptions are available for purchase through a variety of channels, including Volume Licensing, the Visual Studio Marketplace, and Microsoft Store.

      Compare subscription benefits and pricing to understand the benefits of each Visual Studio subscription. Check out the subscription benefits page for more help deciding which subscription is right for you.

      Microsoft Store

      Retail Visual Studio subscriptions available through the Microsoft Store include:

      • Visual Studio Enterprise
      • Visual Studio Professional
      • Visual Studio Test Professional

      Each of these subscriptions offers the option to make an initial purchase or to renew an existing subscription. Renewal pricing reflects a significant discount and is only available for existing subscriptions. To qualify to renew subscriptions at the discounted renewal price, subscriptions should be renewed before they expire.

      If you’re looking to make a one-time purchase of Visual Studio without a subscription or any of the benefits that are included with a subscription, visit the Microsoft Store for Visual Studio Professional 2019.

      Visual Studio Marketplace

      With monthly subscriptions, you can rent Visual Studio and Azure DevOps without a long-term contract. Billing is handled through your Microsoft Azure subscription. If you don’t have an Azure subscription yet—it’s free to set up and you can do this while you make your first purchase.

      • Visual Studio Professional - monthly subscription
      • Visual Studio Enterprise - monthly subscription

      Read more about monthly Visual Studio Subscriptions billing.

      Volume Licensing

      Volume Licensing subscriptions are available when an organization needs to purchase a large number of subscriptions. Read more about purchasing through Volume Licensing.

      How do I view my invoice?

      Monthly Visual Studio subscriptions (and annual subscriptions if purchased before December 2018) are billed through Azure and you can find your bill in the Azure portal.

      To view your Visual Studio subscriptions invoice:

      1. Sign in to the Azure portal.
      2. Click on the Cost Management + Billing blade in the menu to find an overview, list of subscriptions, and invoices.

      How do I renew Visual Studio subscriptions?

      You can acquire Visual Studio subscriptions in several ways, and the process for renewing existing subscriptions depends on how you acquired them.

      How to renew retail subscriptions

      If you currently have a retail subscription, there are two ways to renew:

      • Connect to the Subscriptions page on the Subscriptions Portal and click on the 'Renew' link.
      • Visit the Microsoft Store and search for 'Visual Studio subscription' to see the available renewal opportunities. Here are some quick links: Visual Studio EnterpriseVisual Studio ProfessionalVisual Studio Test Professional

      How to renew cloud subscriptions

      Cloud subscriptions are those purchased through the Visual Studio Marketplace. Both monthly and annual cloud subscriptions renew until you cancel them, so there's no action needed to renew them.

      How to renew subscriptions purchased through Volume Licensing

      If your subscription is provided to you by your work, it is probably purchased and renewed through your company's Volume License agreement. You can reach out to your admin using the Contact my admin button at the top right of the Subscriptions Portal.

      How do I cancel monthly and annual subscriptions?

      To cancel monthly and annual subscriptions purchased from the Visual Studio Marketplace, you need to sign in to the Administration Portal and set the number of subscriptions for your agreement to zero.

      Follow these steps to reduce the number of subscriptions:

      1. Sign in to https://manage.visualstudio.com
      2. If you are an admin on more than one agreement, choose the desired agreement from the drop-down list.
      3. Select the Overview icon at the top left to display information about your subscriptions.
      4. Locate the entry for the subscriptions you wish to cancel, and select Change quantity. This will take you the Visual Studio Marketplace where you will be able to update your purchase quantity.
      5. Set the quantity to zero (0). Your subscriptions will remain in place until their scheduled billing date, but will not renew when the billing date is reached.

      What are the licensing terms for Visual Studio subscriptions?

      All Visual Studio subscriptions are licensed on a per-user basis. Each licensed user may install and use the software on any number of devices to design, develop, test, and demonstrate their programs. Visual Studio subscriptions also allow the licensed user to evaluate the software and to simulate customer environments in order to diagnose issues related to your programs. Each additional person who uses the software in this way must also have a license.

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      • Subscriber Portal
      • Software Downloads
      • Benefits
      • Purchasing, renewing, canceling and billing
      • Azure Credits
      • Subscriber Portal
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      Should I sign in using my work email or my personal email?

      To access a subscription, you should sign in with the email address to which the subscription is assigned. In most cases the subscription was assigned by your work or school, so you will want to use your work or school email and credentials to sign in to the Subscriber Portal.

      How do I access the My Visual Studio Subscribers Portal without knowing my login credentials associated with my work email?

      If you're not sure what your work email or AAD credentials are, you should reach out to your network administrator. For privacy reasons, Microsoft is unable to provide information about credentials.

      How do I find my admin if I have a question?

      If your subscription was provided to you by your work or school, you can reach out to the administrator(s) on the agreement for assistance. You can use the 'Contact my admin' form directly from the Subscriptions Portal. For more information, check out our Contact your subscriptions administrator article.

      When does my subscription expire?

      Information about your subscription is available in the Subscriber Portal. Connect to to see a list of your subscriptions and to view information such as expiration dates and support information. For retail subscriptions, you can also renew your subscription from that page.

      Cloud subscriptions purchased through the Visual Studio Marketplace renew automatically, so if you're using a monthly or annual cloud subscription, you don't have to worry about it expiring until you cancel it.

      How do I add alternate identities to my subscription and how does this impact my Azure credits and Azure DevOps?

      Adding an alternate account to your Visual Studio subscription allows you to access the subscription benefits, like Azure DevOps and Azure, with a different identity than that which the subscription is assigned to. In the past, this functionality was available only if your Visual Studio (VS) subscription was assigned to a Microsoft Account (MSA). We have extended this functionality for work or school accounts in Azure Active Directory (Azure AD).

      This doesn't provide a copy of subscription to the other account; it only provides the ability to access the two benefits with the alternate account.

      For all subscriptions, you can add a 'work or school account' so you can use that account with your benefits that require a login (VS IDE, Azure DevOps, and Azure).

      Adding an alternate ID is easy. Connect to https://my.visualstudio.com/subscriptions, click on 'Add alternate account', enter the email address and click 'Add'. For more information on using alternate identities, check out our Alternate identities article.

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      • Software Downloads
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      What software downloads are available?

      The software downloads available depends on the subscription(s) you have. If you have more than one subscription, the downloads for the highest level subscription are visible from within all of your subscriptions. This makes it easy to get the downloads you want without switching between subscriptions.

      Check out this list of the downloads available by subscription level. For more information about downloads, see the following articles:

      • Product availability
      • Download software

      How do I activate the software I just downloaded using product keys?

      Activation isn't always required for a product. In some cases, a single key can be used multiple times. In general, if a product key is required, you'll be asked to enter it during the installation process or on first use.

      You can obtain product keys in two places:

      • When you download a product you can click on the 'Get Key' link listed next to the product you're downloading.
      • You can also find keys on the Product Keys page in the Subscriber Portal.

      For more information about obtaining and using product keys, please see these articles:

      • Product keys overview
      • Find and claim keys

      How do I access my product keys when my subscription expires?

      To have access to your product keys after your subscription expires, you need to export your claimed keys before the subscription expires. After it expires you will not be able to retrieve your keys.

      To export your keys, simply click on the Export all keys link at the far right of the Product Keys page. An .xml file entitled KeysExport.xml will be created, and you'll have the option to open or save the file. You will need to open the file with an application capable of handling .xml files. For example, you can open the file as a read-only workbook in Excel. The file will contain any keys you've claimed, as well as any 'static' keys that are automatically claimed for you.

      Where can I find older versions of Visual Studio?

      If you're looking for previous releases of Visual Studio 2019 specifically, you can find download links to the releases as well as instructions in the Visual Studio 2019 Releases article.

      If you need earlier versions of Visual Studio, such as Visual Studio 2017, see Visual Studio Older Downloads.

      Where are my product keys?

      A list of the product keys available with your Visual Studio subscription is accessible in the subscriptions portal under the Product Keys tab at https://my.visualstudio.com/productkeys.

      How do I troubleshoot in Visual Studio?

      If you have a question about Visual Studio, several resources are available to assist you.

      Visual Studio IDE technical support

      Visual Studio IDE technical issues or questions should be directed to Visual Studio technical support. Before using the limited Visual Studio technical support incidents that may be included with your Visual Studio subscription, we suggest trying some other online resources.

      • For Visual Studio installation issues, see Troubleshoot Visual Studio installation and upgrade issues for step-by-step guidance. You can also try the installation chat (English only) support option.
      • Review tutorials, troubleshooting guides, and helpful resources within Visual Studio IDE documentation.
      • Search the online Developer Community and get expert answers via a community supported forum. You can search keywords and read, vote, comment all without logging in. If you don’t find what you need with a search, you can suggest a feature or report a problem from the navigation menu. To submit a feature request, you’ll need to sign in to fill out the report and post. To report a problem or bug, a running instance of Visual Studio is required to report feedback.
      • Search the Stack Overflow public Q&A tagged with visual-studio to get answers to already asked questions or sign up for an account and ask a new question.

      Technical support incidents

      If you’ve exhausted the options above and still don’t have an answer, activate a Visual Studio technical support ticket by visiting the subscriptions portal benefits page and clicking on the Technical Support benefit tile in the Support tab. Read more about the Technical Support benefit. (Technical support is not available with all subscriptions. Compare Visual Studio subscription benefits to find out what is included with your subscription.)

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      • Benefits
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      How do I use my benefits?

      The types of benefits vary. So do the methods for activating and using them. For example, many of our benefits are provided by partners. The processes for setting up accounts, installing software, and using online resources vary widely.

      For each benefit available in the subscriber portal, we've provided information such as which subscriptions include them, and steps to activate the benefits.

      Check out our documentation to learn more (click on 'Subscriptions' in the left nav pane, and choose 'Benefits').

      Why can't I find certain benefits?

      Available benefits vary by subscription level and are subject to change. To see which benefits are included for each paid subscription level, please visit https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/benefits/. You can select the subscription you're interested in, and then see which benefits are available in the various categories - Tools, Azure, Software and Downloads, Services, Training, and Support.

      What is the Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise setup process?

      Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise are managed in two parts:

      • The Visual Studio subscription (Enterprise or Professional)
      • GitHub Enterprise

      When you are assigned a Visual Studio subscription with GitHub, you'll receive an email letting you know that your Visual Studio Subscriptions administrator has assigned a subscription to you. At that point, you are able to view available subscription benefits at https://my.visualstudio.com/benefits. This includes the GitHub Enterprise benefit.

      GitHub Enterprise is managed by a GitHub administrator, separately from Visual Studio subscriptions. When your company has set up a GitHub Enterprise account, you will receive an email from GitHub notifying you that your Visual Studio subscription has been linked and the benefit tile will update. Setting up this account may take some time and is dependent on your company completing the setup process. After you receive the email, you can reach out to the appropriate GitHub organization administrator to request an invitation to their organization and/or repo.

      When an invitation is sent from your GitHub org administrator, you will receive an email from GitHub and the benefit tile will update again.

      After you accept the GitHub org invitation, the appearance of the benefit tile at https://my.visualstudio.com/benefits will change from “Pending” to “Activated” and you can now start using GitHub Enterprise.

      Read more details on the GitHub Enterprise set up process.

      How do I download, find a key, and activate the Visual Studio IDE?

      Your subscription level identifies which level of the Visual Studio IDE you have access to. For example, a Visual Studio Professional subscription does not have access to Visual Studio Enterprise. If you’re not sure which level you're using, see the subscriptions available to you by checking the subscriptions page in the portal.

      How to download and activate

      1. Sign in to the subscriptions portal.
      2. For the latest release, locate the Visual Studio IDE tile in the Tools section and click on the Download link at the bottom of the benefit tile.
      3. You’ll be redirected to the Download Results page for Visual Studio, where you’ll have the opportunity to download the IDE.
      4. Follow the download and set up instructions.
      5. Using the email your subscription is assigned to, you’ll be able to immediately sign into the IDE after installation, no product key is required. Learn how to claim a product key so you can use the IDE when you're offline.

      Find an older version

      You can also search and download previous versions from the