microsoft visual studio license assignment

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Accessing the Admin Portal as an admin on a Volume License agreement

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If you're the primary or notices contact on your organization’s agreement, you're automatically granted access to the portal upon setting up your Volume Licensing agreement. You receive a system-triggered welcome email, which prompts you to sign into the portal. The email shows which email address to use to sign into the portal. To sign in, visit https://manage.visualstudio.com .

After you’re signed in, you'll be automatically set up as a super admin and can begin managing subscriptions and other admins. For information about the differences between super admins and admins, take a look at our article about admin roles .

This process applies to all Volume Licensing agreement types including, but not limited to: Enterprise agreements, Enterprise subscriptions, Select, Select Plus, Open, Open License, Government. and Academic agreements.

For assistance with sales, subscriptions, accounts and billing for Visual Studio Subscriptions, see Visual Studio Subscriptions Support

• Visual Studio documentation
• Azure DevOps Services documentation
• Azure documentation
• Microsoft 365 documentation
• Learn how to assign subscriptions
• Learn more about the full range of subscription benefits
• Set agreement preferences

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Visual Studio License Directory

Visual studio.

• License terms for Visual Studio when purchased through a Visual Studio Subscription are covered under the Microsoft Product Terms .
• For additional information about Visual Studio Licensing, see the Microsoft Visual Studio Licensing Whitepaper .
• For Product Lifecycle information, see Visual Studio Product Lifecycle and Servicing .

Visual Studio 2022

• Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022
• Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise 2022, Visual Studio Professional 2022, and Trial Edition
• Microsoft Diagnostic Build Tools for Visual Studio 2022
• Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime 2015-2022 Software
• Supplement for Microsoft Visual Studio 2022
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 Add-Ons and Extensions
• Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications 2022
• Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications SDK 2022
• Microsoft Visual Studio Team Explorer 2022

Pre-release EULAs

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 Product Family Pre-Release Software (RC)
• Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022 Pre-Release Software (RC)
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 Product Family Pre-Release Software
• Security Issue Analysis Bug Detection and Fix for Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 Pre-release

Visual Studio 2019

• Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise 2019, Visual Studio Professional 2019, Visual Studio Test Professional 2019, and Trial Edition
• Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2019
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 Diagnostic Build Tools
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 Add-Ons and Extensions
• Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise 2019, Visual Studio Professional 2019, and Trial Edition Pre-Release Software (RC)
• Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2019 Pre-Release Software (RC)
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 Product Family Pre-Release Software

Supplemental Licenses

• Supplemental License Terms for Microsoft Visual Studio IntelliCode Extension Preview

Visual Studio 2017

• Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise 2017, Visual Studio Professional 2017, Visual Studio Test Professional 2017, and Trial Edition
• Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2017
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 Express for Windows Desktop
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 Tools, Add-Ons, and C++ Redistributable
• Microsoft Connected Services SDK for Visual Studio 2017
• Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise 2017, Visual Studio Professional 2017, Visual Studio Test Professional 2017 Pre-release Software (RC)
• Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2017 Pre-release Software (RC)
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 Express for Windows Desktop Pre-release Software
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 Pre-release Software
• Supplement for Microsoft Visual Studio 2017
• Supplemental License Terms for Microsoft Visual Studio Agents 2017

Visual Studio 2015

• Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise 2015, Visual Studio Professional 2015, Visual Studio Test Professional 2015, and Trial Edition
• Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2015
• Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2015
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Software Development Kit
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Add-ons, Visual Studio Shells, and C++ Redistributable
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Product Family Pre-Release Software (RC)
• Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2015 Product Family Pre-Release Software (RC)
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 (and Next Version Code-Name 15) Pre-Release Software
• Supplement for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015

Visual Studio 2013

• Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2013

Other Visual Studio Licensing Documents

• Visual Studio Team Services’ Code of Conduct
• Microsoft Visual Studio Internal Utilities
• Microsoft Visual Studio Remote Control
• Microsoft Visual Studio Telemetry
• Microsoft Visual Studio Glass Test Package
• Microsoft Visual Studio Graphics Tools Extension Pre-Release Software
• Microsoft .NET Core Debugger
• Microsoft Visual C++ Build Tools
• Microsoft Visual C++ Build Tools NuGet Pre Release Software
• Microsoft Visual Studio Tools For Unity
• Microsoft Project System Extensibility Preview
• Microsoft Visual Studio Pre-Release Servicing Software
• Microsoft Visual Studio Emulator For Android
• Microsoft Visual C++ Cross-Platform Mobile Development (Android)
• Microsoft Visual C++ Cross-Platform Mobile Development (iOS)
• Clang with Microsoft CodeGen
• Microsoft HLSL Compilation in C# and VB projects
• vstest Test Platform
• Visual C++ Build Insights Software Development Kit
• Visual Studio Tools for Office Runtime and Language Pack

Sample Applications

• IOT Sample Application Preview

Visual Studio for Mac

Visual studio 2022 for mac.

• Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022 for Mac, Visual Studio Professional 2022 for Mac, Visual Studio Enterprise 2022 for Mac
• Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022 for Mac, Visual Studio Professional 2022 for Mac, Visual Studio Enterprise 2022 for Mac Pre-release

Visual Studio 2019 for Mac

• Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2019 for Mac, Visual Studio Professional 2019 for Mac, and Visual Studio Enterprise 2019 for Mac

Azure DevOps Server

Azure devops server 2022.

• Microsoft Azure DevOps Server 2022, Trial Version, and Azure DevOps Server Express 2022

Azure DevOps Server 2020

• Microsoft Azure DevOps Server 2020, Trial Version, and Azure DevOps Server Express 2020

Azure DevOps Server 2019

• Microsoft Azure DevOps Server 2019, Trial Version, and Azure DevOps Server Express 2019
• Microsoft Azure DevOps Server 2019 Pre-release Software Terms

Team Foundation Server

Team foundation server 2018.

• Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2018 and Team Foundation Server Express Editions
• Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2018 Pre-release Software License Terms

Team Foundation Server 2017

• Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2017 and Team Foundation Server Express Editions
• Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2017 Product Family Pre-Release Software (RC)
• Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Code-Name 15 Product Family Pre-release Software (RC)

Team Foundation Server 2015

• Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2015, Trial Edition, and Team Foundation Server Express
• Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2015 Product Family Pre-Release Software (RC)
• Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2015 Product Family Pre-Release Software

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Visual Studio Subscriptions (Formerly MSDN Licenses) – Everything You Need To Know

Visual Studio Subscriptions (Formerly known as MSDN: Microsoft Developer Network licenses / subscriptions) are Microsoft’s ultimate bundle of software, services and resources for software developers and businesses.

Visual Studio subscriptions have multiple versions, with different included benefits and at different price points. In this article we’ll walk you through all of that, and in the process, we’ll also answer the most frequent questions (FAQ) asked by Visual Studio subscriptions’ potential buyers, users / subscribers and subscription administrators.

So, without further ado, let’s start with the most obvious question:

What Is A Visual Studio Subscription?

Visual Studio subscriptions, which were previously known as MSDN subscriptions until recent rebranding, give users access to any past and current Microsoft software and services that are particularly useful for software developers and businesses.

The development solution allows users to create apps, websites, services, and computer programs for Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Web, and other cloud-based platforms.

Microsoft offers a variety of VS subscription types, each with different price points and benefits in order to best suit all of our clients’ needs. (To learn more about the different subscription types and price points, please see ‘ What are the standard Visual Studio subscriptions and their prices by version?’)

A VS subscription provides unlimited access to development tools such as the Visual Studio IDE, a library of Microsoft software, credit to use in Azure, world-class technical development training, and impeccable customer service and support whenever you need it.

Ultimately, a VS subscription compiles a wide range of useful resources in one place for a user-friendly and convenient experience when creating and managing your applications.

In the event you are not yet familiar with the Visual Studio IDE, here is a brief summary to get started:

=> What is Visual Studio (the IDE not the Subscription)?

Visual Studio is arguably the best IDE (Integrated Development Environment) available in the world. Visual Studio is an IDE that allows you to edit, debug, and build code so that you can publish an excellent, top-quality app.

The Visual Studio IDE includes many features, including compilers, code completion tools, and graphical designers.

Visual Studio’s most popular features include Squiggles and Quick Actions, Code Cleanup, Refactoring, IntelliSense, Visual Studio search, CodeLens, and so much more.

The IDE was developed by Microsoft in 1997, and since its release, it has been continuously updated to include the latest and best programming elements.

=> What is Visual Studio (IDE) used for?

Visual Studio is primarily used to develop computer programs, websites, desktop and mobile applications, games, apps, and it is used for educational purposes in the school and work environment.

The powerful IDE is capable of working with all the major programming languages such as JavaScript/Typescript, C#, C++, VB.Net, Python, and Java and offers many advanced features for its users.

Visual Studio is extremely popular in large part because it is platform agnostic (available on Windows, Linux and Mac), and it can be used to develop extensions, add-ins, web-parts/app-parts, as well as complex workflows, to extend the capabilities of many enterprise solutions like the Office Suite, SharePoint, Office 365 (now called Microsoft 365), Dynamics Nav/AX/CRM, Dynamics 365, MS BI, MS EPM, and more.

=> Why should I get Visual Studio?

• The IDE is extremely popular with a wide range of user types and levels, from students to professional freelancers, start-ups and larger businesses. This means that when you join Visual Studio, you will gain all the benefits of a gigantic community behind you for support, help, and training.
• With Visual Studio, you can start with free trials, try out monthly subscriptions, or commit to annual plans to best suit your developing and budget needs.
• Visual Studio comes complete with every programming need you may encounter.
• It is simple to add new tools and upgrade your subscription plans
• Visual Studio is fast, reliable, secure, lightweight, and is quick and easy to install.
• It is ideal if you need to collaborate with your team to develop and debug programs and do serious code analysis.
• The IDE runs compatibly with Mac, Linux, and Windows so you do not have to worry about your platform to get started.
• With Visual Studio, you can work from any virtual location.
• Visual Studio’s advanced IDE allows you to write fast code.
• Visual Studio is extremely customizable from color themes to upgrade settings.
• The tool is an effective time saver, easy to use, and reliable for an effortless user experience.

Visual Studio Subscription Benefits

Microsoft’s Visual Studio offers a wide selection of subscription plans and levels to best suit your needs, so VS subscription benefits will vary depending on the subscription plan that you’ve chosen. These benefits include:

• Access to virtually all Microsoft software for effective and secure development and testing
• Professional developer tools (CodeLens)
• Free Azure Credits
• World-class training with LinkedIn
• Pluralsight
• CODE Magazine
• Partner offers
• Priority and quality support
• Automated security
• Parasoft Virtualize
• Whitesource Bolt
• Azure DevOps
• Visual Studio App Center
• A collaborative development environment
• And much more

These benefits allow you to develop your programs and applications to their highest potential. For a full list of VS subscription benefits, please select this link .

What are the Visual Studio Subscription Azure Credits?

Azure credits are one of the many subscription benefits that come with a Visual Studio subscription. Azure credits allow you to use Azure services at no extra cost. The number of credits that you receive monthly is dependent on the type of subscription plan you purchase.

You can remove spending caps by upgrading to pay-as-you-go pricing; you’ll only pay for what you use, and you can cancel anytime. To upgrade, please click here . 

When you activate these credits, you automatically create an Azure subscription that allows you to start using your credits right way. Best of all, no credit card is required.

With your Azure credits, you can:

• Host a static website
• Publish an ASP.NET site to Azure
• Deploy a website to a virtual machine
• Integrate your data and services using serverless
• And so much more!

What is the difference between Cloud vs. Standard Visual Studio subscriptions?

Please note that Microsoft no longer offers these Cloud subscriptions. For existing customers however, there will be no change in ability to renew, increase, decrease, or cancel a cloud subscription.

Cloud Subscriptions allowed users to rent Visual Studio without the hassle or commitment of a long-term contract, while Standard Subscriptions allow users to purchase Visual Studio on a long-term subscription commitment, where renewal costs decrease after the first subscription term, which varies from 12-36 months.

The Cloud Visual Studio Subscriptions had two versions:

• VS Professional Subscription: Professional subscription includes VS Professional IDE and basic plan for Azure DevOps for $45/month
• VS Enterprise Subscription: Enterprise subscription includes VS Enterprise IDE and basic + test plan for Azure DevOps for $250/month

However, if you are a new Microsoft customer, please refer to the standard subscription and prices section for information on the subscriptions that are currently available for purchase.

What are the standard Visual Studio Subscriptions and their prices by version?

Standard Visual Studio Subscriptions allow users to purchase Visual Studio on a long-term subscription commitment, where renewal costs decrease after the first subscription term, which varies from 12-36 months. This subscription can be purchased through Resellers or the Microsoft Store, and includes many subscriber benefits.

• VS Enterprise Subscription: $5,999 for the first year and only $2,569 per renewal term
• VS Professional Subscription: $1,199 for the first year and only $799 per renewal term
• VS Test Professional: $2,169 for the first year and only $899 per renewal term

Microsoft also offers Volume Licensing programs. These are ideal if you are looking for a cost-effective way for your small organization (5 or more desktops) to purchase the latest and best Microsoft technology. Please refer to ‘ What are volume licensing programs? ’ down below, if you have further questions regarding this option.

Can I get Visual Studio for free?

You can get visual studio for free indeed, since Microsoft offers free tools that are best suited for individuals and beginner program developers: Visual Studio Community for Mac and PC and Visual Studio Code are free to download.

Visual Studio also offers free trials of online learning platforms like Pluralsight and Opsgility, as well as an Azure limited free subscription for one year. This can be done with the creation of a Visual Studio Dev Essentials account and completion of a simple verification process.

Visual Studio Subscription vs. Standalone IDE?

A Standalone License for Visual Studio is a great option if you are just looking to make a one-time purchase for the current version of Visual Studio Professional for your PC. You can purchase a standalone license for 499 USD. However, if you need earlier versions, access to Azure DevOps and other subscription benefits, have a Mac, or are looking for a short-term and less expensive option, the monthly subscription is the better option for you at 45 USD per month.

What happens when my Visual Studio Subscription ends / expires?

If your subscription ends, your access to your services and applications will go through three stages before the subscription is fully terminated. The three stages are expired, disabled, and deleted.

The expired stage lasts 30 days and you will be able to normally access all of your data during this time-frame.

The disabled stage lasts 90 days , during which your data will only be accessible to admins.

Once your subscription is deleted, data will also be deleted, and the Azure Active Directory will be removed. Administrators will only be able to access the admin center to purchase and manage other subscriptions.

As your subscription nears its expiration, you will receive email notifications to inform you of your future subscription options:

• You can enable this option to automatically bill your next subscription term
• You can also disable this option if you wish to discontinue your subscription
• You always have the option to cancel your subscription before it expires as well

This is important information to know and keep in mind to ensure you are able to back up and save your data before your subscription ends.

How do I access product keys when my Visual Studio Subscription ends / expires?

To have access to the product keys after your visual studio subscription ends, you will need to export claimed keys before the subscription expires. Otherwise, after it has expired, you will not be able to retrieve keys.

How to export your VS subscription product keys:

• Go to the Product Keys page
• Select Export All Keys on the top right
• An .xml file will be created which you can open or save
• Please note that you will need to open the file with an application that can handle .xml files
• The file will contain any claimed or ‘static’ automatically claimed keys

How do I know when my Visual Studio Subscription ends / expires?

You will be able to find any information about your subscription in the Subscriber Portal. Please log in to see a list of all your available subscriptions, their expiration dates, and support information. If you wish to renew a retail subscription, you may also do so from this page.

What do I do if I don’t know my Visual Studio Subscription login credentials?

Unfortunately, Microsoft is unable to provide information about credentials for privacy reasons. If you are unsure what your work email or AAD credentials are, please contact your network administrator for the details.

How do I cancel a Visual Studio Subscription?

Cancelling an annual subscription goes through the same three stages as an expired subscription, however, cancelling a monthly subscription skips the expired stage and immediately jumps to the disabled stage.

How do I renew my Visual Studio Subscription?

If you have previously purchased a standard subscription through the Microsoft Store, you may renew it there. If you work with a company who purchases subscriptions through a Volume License, or you are the administrator for your company, the admin will need to contact a Reseller to renew.

It is important to note that Cloud subscriptions do not need to be renewed as long as the subscription is paid.

Where do I find my Visual Studio Subscription ID?

To find your Visual Studio subscription ID, you will need to log in to your Microsoft account. Your ID will be found under the tab labelled ‘My Account’.

What are Visual Studio Subscriptions with GitHub?

GitHub is a code hosting platform that allows for collaboration and version control. Purchasing or upgrading to a VS subscription with GitHub means you get the benefits of both for one great price. This extension has excellent features, allowing you to connect to GitHub within Visual Studios, clone, create, and fork repositories, publish your local work, create gists, view pull requests, and much more. Please visit this page for more information on GitHub.

To get this feature, you must have Visual Studio 2015 or newer versions.

Is Visual Studio available for students?

Visual Studio is available for students for free through Microsoft Azure Dev Tools. These should be used for learning and training purposes only. Visual Studio 2019, Visual Studio Code, and Visual Studio 2019 for Mac all offer unique development tools for different programming needs and are free to download. You can also get $100 in Azure credit when you create an Azure for Students account, free of charge.

How do I identify which Visual Studio Subscription I have?

If you have multiple subscriptions or you have forgotten the subscription plan you’ve chosen, the Visual Studio Subscriber Portal is the one stop shop to manage and view all of your VS subscriptions. This is where you can make changes to your profile, switch between subscriptions, and get the most out of your subscription by using all the included benefits.

To identify the subscription you are using, click on the Benefits page. You will see the subscription that is currently in use displayed on the upper-right hand corner of the page, as well as in the blue button.

The Visual Studio Subscriber Portal allows you to switch between subscriptions by clicking on the drop-down menu located in the top right corner of the page. Select Subscriptions, and you will see all of your available subscriptions to choose from and switch to.

Why can’t I see my subscription in the Visual Studio Subscriber Portal?

If your subscription is not appearing in the Subscriptions list, there may be a number of reasons.

• Please note than an expired subscription does not appear in the Subscriber Portal
• Ensure that you are signed in with the correct email address that your subscription is associated with
• It is also possible that your administrator has not yet assigned a subscription to you, or the existing subscription may have been reassigned. If this is the case, please contact your administrator

How do I link my Visual Studio Subscription to Azure Services or subscriptions?

It is possible to link two subscriptions if you are signed into your VS subscription with a personal Microsoft Account and have Azure DevOps Services or Microsoft Azure included in a subscription with a work or school account.

To create this alternate account:

• Sign into Subscriber Portal with your Microsoft Account
• Click on the Subscriptions tab
• Look under Related Links and click Add Alternate Account
• Here you will enter the work or school email address

This will allow you to keep using your Microsoft account to sign into your subscription whilst retaining access to your existing Azure services associated with other accounts.

Please note that if both accounts are under the same email address, your school or work account will have to be added as an alternate to make use of all the benefits at once.

How do I contact / find my Visual Studio Subscription admin?

If you have any questions for your subscription administrator, you can contact them through the Subscription Portal.

To do this:

• Please log into the subscriber portal
• Select Subscriptions
• You will see a blue button displaying ‘Contact my Admin’ in the top right corner
• Write your message

How do I get the most out of my Visual Studio Subscription benefits?

There are many different types of benefits available for subscriptions, and many different methods to activate them. To view all your available subscription benefits, log into the Subscriber Portal. Here, you will see that we’ve provided information on how to activate each benefit, that way you won’t miss anything.

How do I update to the most recent version of Visual Studio?

There are multiple ways to update to the newest versions of Visual Studio. You can install Visual Studio versions side by side or uninstall older versions as you prefer.

1- Using Visual Studio Installer:

To update to the newest versions of Visual Studio, go to the Visual Studio Installer on your computer. Here you will be able to locate the latest version you currently have. Select Update to install all new available updates.

Please note that after the update is complete, you may be asked to restart your computer. If this is the case, restart your computer and open Visual Studio as you normally would. If not, after the update is complete, select Launch to begin.

2- Using Visual Studio:

You can also open Visual Studio and select the Help option from the menu bar. From here, you can choose Check for Updates. If there is an update available, you will see a dialogue box named Update Available. Select Update from here. Visual Studio will update, close, and then reopen.

3- Using Notification Hub:

There may be a notification icon in the lower right-hand corner of Visual Studio IDE. From there, you can choose the update you wish to install, select View Details, and finally click Update.

You may also customize your update settings by changing installation modes or choosing automatic updates. To view and change these settings, please go to Tools > Options under the menu bar. Under Environment, you may select Product Updates to view all customization options.

Can I add another identity to my Visual Studio Subscription?

Yes, it is quick and simple to add an alternate account / identity to your Visual Studio subscription. This allows you to access subscription benefits with a different identity than that which the original subscription was assigned to. Please note that this does not provide a copy of subscription to the other account, it only provides the ability to access benefits from an alternative account.

How do I add an alternate Visual Studio ID to my subscription?

Adding an alternate ID to your account is a simple and quick process. To add an alternate ID, please log into My Visual Studio. From here, please Select Subscriptions and click on Add Alternate Account. Here, you will have the option to enter a different email address. After you do so, click Add.

Is there a cheaper Visual Studio subscription for small businesses?

Yes! Microsoft offers different subscription levels to best suit your individual or business needs. For a small business or start-up company, we recommend purchasing the less expensive Visual Studio business subscriptions. These subscriptions are offered at $45 and $250 per month and are ideal if you are looking for a less expensive option, are looking to test out the program, or are looking for a flexible, short-term commitment.

Visual Studio Community is also available for academic research and open-source projects’ purposes.

Is there a cheaper Visual Studio subscription for Startups?

Microsoft offers a unique Visual Studio option for start-ups called “Microsoft for Startups”. This program offers many benefits to customers with funded start-ups, including providing 24/7 technology and business support and helping to scale new businesses. For more information on Microsoft Start-ups, please visit this page.

What is the difference between Visual Studio Subscription Enterprise vs. Professional?

The basic differences between the two subscription types are as follows:

• Visual Studio Enterprise costs $5999 for the first year, while Visual Studio Professional costs $1199 for the first year
• Renewal costs after the first year are $2569 for VS Enterprise, and $799 for VS Professional
• Azure DevOps test plans and self-hosted pipelines
• Azure DevOps Server test plans
• $150/month credit to Microsoft Azure
• Power Bi Pro
• Microsoft Office Professional Plus, Project, and Visio
• SharePoint, Exchange, Dynamics, and more Microsoft server software
• Microsoft 365 apps for enterprise
• Office Professional Plus 2019
• 6-month subscriptions to LinkedIn Learning and Pluralsight training

Visual Studio Professional subscriptions are a tier beneath Enterprise subscriptions. You pay a lower price but get less subscription benefits.

For a more detailed comparison between the two, I’ve written an entire Visual Studio Subscription (MSDN) Enterprise Vs. Professional article.

Why doesn’t Azure DevOps recognize me as a Visual Studio subscriber?

When you purchase a subscription, Azure DevOps should automatically recognize it when you sign in using a primary or registered alternative identity. If Azure DevOps is not currently recognizing you as a Visual Studio subscriber, there are a few things you can try:

• First, please ensure that you have an active Visual Studio subscription that includes Azure DevOps as a benefit
• Please also confirm that you are logged into the primary or registered alternative identity that is associated with you Visual Studio subscription
• Before signing into Azure DevOps, visit the Visual Studio subscriber portal at least once

If none of these seem to be the issue with your subscription and Azure DevOps still does not recognize you as a subscriber, please contact Azure DevOps support to resolve the problem.

Visual Studio Subscription Administrators’ Questions (FAQ):

What are the benefits of assigning visual studio subscriptions.

If you are the leader of an organization or business, assigning subscriptions to your developers is a great option for you.

Assigning subscriptions will:

• Improve your developers’ productivity to deliver fast, smarter, and higher quality work
• Offer your developers the opportunity to grow and learn with state of the art technical and professional training, allowing developers to access multiple subscription benefits to improve their work
• Invest and create long-term value in your organization

For information on how to purchase subscriptions for your organization, please see ‘ What are volume licensing programs? ’.

What is my responsibility as a Visual Studio subscription administrator?

Visual Studio subscription administrators agree to certain responsibilities and limitations that come with Microsoft products and services.

Responsibilities:

• Understand benefits and restrictions of VS subscriptions
• Assign VS subscriptions to individuals and encourage usage
• Review user assignments through VS Administration Portal
• Use Active Directory to manage user access
• Use automated tools to inventory systems
• Get help with manual reconciliation
• Track any changes to software usage and acquire additional licenses on schedule

For more information on administrator responsibilities, please take a look at this guide.

What are Visual Studio volume licensing programs?

• Open License: Please note that this program is being discontinued in 2022. It is a 2-year agreement term, has the option to add software assurance, and package pricing is based on product pools.
• Open Value: This program is a 3-year agreement term, software assurance is included, and package pricing is based on desktop PCs.
• Open Value Subscription: This program is a 1 or 3-year agreement term, software assurance included, and pricing is based on desktop PCs.

If you are looking for more information on package pricing for Volume Licensing programs, please visit this link to find a Microsoft partner or get an estimated quote.

How do I transfer a Visual Studio Subscription?

Subscriptions purchased through Volume Licensing may be reassigned by the administrator by removing them from a user then adding them to another. Subscriptions may also be transferred by contacting Customer Service. Please note that Complimentary and ‘Not for Resale’ subscriptions cannot be transferred.

How do I assign Visual Studio subscriptions to users and developers?

If you are a Visual Studio administrator, you can grant your developers access to tools, cloud services, software and training resources by assigning subscriptions. There are two ways you may do this; individual and bulk assigning.

When assigning subscriptions to your users one at a time ,

• Go to manage.visualstudio.com and click Manage Subscribers at the top of the page
• Click Add, type the name and email address of the user you wish to assign the subscription to
• You can enable or disable the “Downloads” toggle depending on whether you wish for the subscriber to have access to software downloads or not
• To know what language to send your subscribers assignment email in, complete the Communication Preferences section
• To add any associated notes, you may use the Reference section
• Click Add and your subscriber will immediately receive an email to begin using their subscription, no activation required

When assigning subscriptions to a group ,

• Click Bulk Add, download the Excel template, and save a copy
• Reference field is optional
• Return to first page and click Bulk Add again, this time uploading the saved Excel template copy
• Once successfully uploaded, you will see a confirmation page and your subscribers will receive an email to begin using their subscription right away (no activation required)

How do I remove Visual Studio subscriptions from users and developers?

If you are a Visual Studio administrator, you can remove a specific user or developer’s subscription to re-assign to someone else.

• Click the subscriber you wish to remove
• To remove in bulk, you may hold the CTRL key when selecting each subscriber for a smoother and quicker experience
• Once selected, click Delete and Confirm

How can I help my Visual Studio Subscribers get the most out of their Azure benefits?

One of the benefits of a subscription with Visual Studio is that subscribers have up to $150 in Azure credits. Using Azure services helps developers build many skills. With an Enterprise agreement, your developers have access to choose up to 50% off of Azure DevTest workloads. As a subscription administrator, this will need to be activated:

• Log into ea.azure.com as an Enterprise Administrator
• Click on Manage tab and then Account
• Search for the full, proper name of the developer you would like to provide the offer to
• At the end of their name, you will see an Edit icon, click here to open a box to select the DevTest option
• The offer will become available for your developer the next time they sign into their account

Please note that by selecting this option, the developer will become ineligible for the $50-$150 monthly Azure credit.

Let your developers know that their subscription includes access to the Azure Advisory Chat and the Azure Community, which is there to help answer any of their questions.

How do I change my Visual Studio subscribers from personal to work accounts?

Some of your developers may be using their personal emails to log into their subscription. This is a simple fix.

• Please select the Connect Emails button
• If a match doesn’t appear, you may use the Search option to fill in the missing information
• Select All Matching Subscribers, and once you are satisfied with the changes, you may select Save to make the update
• Your subscribers will receive an email to inform them of these changes

Keep in mind that this process only updates the email that subscribers will need to use to log into their Visual Studio subscription. If they have already activated benefits with the other email, they will need to continue using the old email address to access them. Any new benefits selected after this process will use the new email address.

How do I add and remove Visual Studio Subscription administrators?

Super Admins have the ability to add and remove other Super Admins or Administrators, whereas Administrators only have control to add or remove subscribers. You will know if you are a Super Admin if you see a Manage Administrators tab on manage.visualstudio.com.

Adding Administrators:

• Click on the Manage Administrators button, it should be at the top of the page
• Type their full name and email address
• Select the agreement from the drop-down menu
• Select the desired language
• Select Super Admin

Removing Administrators:

• Click on the Manage Administrators button on the top of the manage.visualstudio.com page
• Find and select the name of the person you wish to remove
• Click on Delete

Can I pool my organization’s Visual Studio Subscriptions’ monthly Azure credits?

Unfortunately, pooling of Azure credits within an organization is not currently available. Microsoft only offers this benefit for the personal use of each subscriber. To find out more about how Azure credits work, please visit this page .

That’s all for Visual Studio Subscriptions, I hope this FAQ answered all your questions, stick around for more Microsoft related articles, and tech-specific blog posts in general.

I'm a senior CS Engineer from Morocco, working as an Independent Consultant and a part-time blogger.

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Visual Studio Online Best Practices: Troubleshooting issues with the “Eligible MSDN Subscriber” license type

March 19th, 2014 0 0

As you adopt Visual Studio Online (VSO) and assign licenses to your users you may want to assign the “Eligible MSDN Subscriber” license type to team members. MSDN subscriptions are purchased outside of VSO and assigned to individual users. Before an MSDN subscriber can log in to VSO as an eligible MSDN subscriber, the subscription process must first be completed. The general flow looks like this:

• MSDN subscription is purchase by or assigned to a team member. Assignment could be via the Volume Licensing Service Center , MPN, etc.
• Team member receives an email asking them to activate their subscription by signing in with a Microsoft account and registering with the subscription details provided.
• Team member activates the subscription and associates a Microsoft account (MSA) with the subscription . The team member logs in to msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/manage using this MSA to manage the subscription going forward.
• A VSO admin adds the MSA (the one the team member associated with their subscription in the previous step) to the Users Hub (https:// Contoso .visualstudio.com/_user) and assigns them an “Eligible MSDN Subscriber” license.
• If 24-48 hours have passed since the subscription was activated, the team member should be able to log in to VSO as an “Eligible MSDN Subscriber” and enjoy full access to all VSO features (a benefit of this license level).

Sometimes though the team member may run into problems after this process. Specifically, they may log in only to see this message below and find that they have limited access to the account (“Stakeholder” license-level access):

Figure 1: (Message when MSDN subscription not found for signed in user)

The team member could be seeing this error for a number of reasons: 

**1. The specific MSDN subscription may not be eligible for Visual Studio Online access **Not all MSDN subscription types include VSO as a benefit. Please refer to the list of eligible MSDN subscriptions to verify.

**2. The MSDN subscription was assigned to the user within the last 48 hours **There is a delay between MSDN subscription assignments and when VSO will see it allow the user to log in. If the subscription was assigned less than 24 hours ago please wait 24-48 hours and have the user try again.

**3. The “Software Downloads” benefit has not been provided with the MSDN subscription **VSO usage is tied to the “Software Downloads” benefit of an MSDN subscription. In order to access VSO when assigned the “Eligible MSDN Subscriber” license type, the user’s MSDN subscription must include this “Software Downloads” benefit.  Here’s an example of enabling that benefit via the Volume Licensing Service Center :

**4. The wrong email address has been added to the VSO Users Hub ** This one is important. When an MSDN subscription is assigned to a user they receive an email (usually to their work email address) asking them to associate their new MSDN subscription with a Microsoft accountemail address (MSA). This could be the same address where they received the mail or the user could pick a completely different MSA . The MSA they pick to associate with their new MSDN subscription is the one that needs to be added to the VSO Users Hub ( https:// Contoso .visualstudio.com/_user ) and assigned the “Eligible MSDN Subscriber” license. It’s the one they use to manage their MSDN subscription via https://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/manage .

Check with your user to see what MSA they’ve associated with & use to manage their MSDN subscription, and ensure that’s the one on the Users Hub. If OrgIDs are being used with VSO the user should associate their OrgID with the MSDN subscription and you can add that to the Users Hub inside VSO.

If all this checks out, have the team member try this:

• Go to msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/manage and log in with your Microsoft account
• From the “ My Subscriptions ” section in the top-left, copy the name , email and Subscriber ID for the MSDN subscription you want to use with VSO. Paste this into Notepad or other text editor.
• Click “ Add an existing subscription to my account ” in the “ My Subscriptions ” section in the top-left.
• Fill out the form with the values you copied in step # 3 and then click NEXT.
• Acknowledge and accept the license notice and then click ACCEPT.

This will not change your subscription in any way but will essentially reactivate it and with any luck this will allow you to log in to VSO.

I hope you are not having any issues with the “Eligible MSDN Subscriber” license type in VSO, but if you are please run through this checklist. If you are still blocked after checking everything above, please open support case:

• Go to http://www.visualstudio.com/support-overview-vs
• Click Visual Studio Online tile in the “ Answer wasn’t there? Talk to us ” section
• Microsoft account PUID. This is the MSA used by the subscription owner to manage it via http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/manage. Get this number from the bottom of https://account.live.com/editprof.aspx (it’s the “Uniquie ID”). Please copypaste… not a screen shot.
• MSDN subscription ID
• Screen shot of your VSO Users Hub (https:// Contoso .visualstudio.com/_user) clearly showing the user with the issue.
• Your VSO account name (like Contoso .visualstudio.com)

HTH, –Trev

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my school account is no longer active ,how can assign a license to my account

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Hello Ahmed M! I'm Gunasekar and I'd be happy to help you with your question. Your school accounts are managed by your organization. If you leave the school or your account becomes inactive, please contact your organization for assistance. If you are looking for a Personal Subscription (ends with @outlook.com (or) @hotmail.com email), you can compare and choose the right plan for your needs from the given link below. https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/buy/compare-all-microsoft-365-products Give back to the Community. Help the next person who has this issue by indicating if this reply solved your problem. Click Yes or No below. I hope this information helps. If you have any questions, please let me know and I will be happy to help you further. Best regards, Gunasekar N

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If you are saying that you are no longer a student, you will have to get your own license. See https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/compare-all-microsoft-365-products . The cheapest option will be to get Office Home & Student 2021 (one user, for one PC or Mac).

Then you need to purchase Office 365 or Office 2021 through your personal MS account, then assign a license to your account.

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The ITAM Review

News, reviews and resources for worldwide ITAM, SAM and Licensing professionals.

Microsoft Visual Studio licensing guide: Stop the development of risks

• 15 July 2021

Visual Studio licensing

Visual Studio subscriptions are licensed Per User with each licensed user able to use:

“ any number of copies of the software and any prior version on any [dedicated] device ”

And may use the software to:

“ design, develop, test, and demonstrate their programs ”

The requirement for a “dedicated device” precludes Visual Studio from being used in public cloud shared environments such as Amazon AWS and Google GCP – although it can (in most cases) be run on Microsoft Azure.

Visual Studio subscriptions can be reassigned between users but only once every 90 days

Production Environment

“ any Physical or Virtual OSE running a production workload or accessing production data, or Physical OSE hosting one or more Virtual OSEs running production workloads or accessing production data ”

And the Visual Studio Licensing Guide gives the following examples:

• Environments that connect to a production database
• Environments that support disaster-recovery or backup for a production environment
• Environments that are used for production at least some of the time, such a server that is rotated into production during peak periods of activity

This doesn’t preclude you from mixing VMs running MSDN & Production software on one server as, according to the above, each VM constitutes its own environment rather than it being that host in its entirety. However, as we’ll discuss later – mixed environments can make audits more difficult.

Perpetual Rights

Visual Studio subscriptions purchased via perpetual license programs allow limited perpetual use after a subscription expires. While no new software or license keys can be downloaded, existing downloads and product keys can continue to be used. However, updates are not permitted, and product keys can only be used up to their activation limit.

Visual Studio is a rare beast in that it allows you to “renew down” – i.e. to move from a higher edition (say Enterprise) to a lower edition (say Professional) at the point of renewal. This is done simply by purchasing the appropriate SKU. This can be a useful tool when managing Visual Studio software spend although may need additional management when reviewing historical compliance.

Visual Studio editions

Visual Studio subscriptions come in 2 flavours – Standard and Cloud.

Standard subscriptions

• Visual Studio Enterprise
• Visual Studio Professional
• Visual Studio Test Professional
• MSDN Platforms

Enterprise edition is the most fully featured with Professional coming in next – however, features in MSDN Platforms that are not in Professional include:

• Power BI Pro
• Certain server software inc. SharePoint and Exchange

Key differences

Test Professional & MSDN Platforms don’t include the Visual Studio IDE – so no programming environment.

Cloud subscriptions

One big thing to note is that Cloud subscriptions don’t include “Subscriber Benefits” or any perpetual rights – they are aimed at programmers working in a DevOps environment rather than those developing with Microsoft technologies.

Additional use rights

Production use, office professional plus / office 365 proplus (apps for enterprise).

Available with:

• Enterprise Subscription
• Enterprise Annual (cloud subscription no longer available)

On one device.

Azure DevOps Server

• Professional Subscription
• Test Professional Subscription

As well as rights to the server product, each subscription also provides 1 x CAL.

System Center VMM

Users licensed with:

Are permitted to run System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) for:

“ creating, deploying and managing lab environment(s) using Microsoft Azure Test Plan ”

Monthly credits

Each “standard” Visual Studio subscription includes a monthly allowance of free Azure credits:

• Enterprise = $150 per month
• Professional = $50 per month
• MSDN Platforms = $100 per month
• Test Professional = $50 per month

These credits can only be used for test & development uses and cannot be combined across accounts.

Azure DevOps

Cloud Use Rights: Azure

Visual Studio subscribers are permitted to run “most” of the subscriber software on VMs in Azure, for test and development purposes. This applies to both shared and dedicated environments.

Note that Windows Server and Windows client OS are not included in the Cloud Use Rights. Windows Server VMS will be charged as standard and Windows Client VMs are available via the monthly credits or subscriptions using the Dev/Test offer (PAYG or Enterprise).

Cloud Use Rights: 3 rd party dedicated

Following the licensing changes made on October 1, 2019, Visual Studio software purchased/renewed after that date cannot be run on dedicated hosts with the “Listed Providers”. These are, at the time of writing:

Azure Dev/Test

The Azure Dev/Test offer gives reduced rates on a variety of Azure resources such as Windows Server VMs, HDInsight nodes, Logic Apps and also provides access to Windows 10 and Azure Virtual Desktop.

Permitted unlicensed use

As a general rule, any person using or accessing software installed via Visual Studio must have a license and it must be of the appropriate type – i.e. a user licensed with Professional cannot access features that are only available with the Enterprise edition. However, there are a few scenarios where unlicensed use is permitted.

Acceptance Testing

Users without licenses are permitted to access the software for the purposes of User Acceptance Testing (UAT). Such testing cannot use live production data and if a copy of production data is used, it must be discarded and can’t be merged back into the live data.

Windows Server RDS

Included with all levels of subscription – but NOT with any of the Cloud subscriptions – this right allows up to 200 simultaneous, anonymous unlicensed users to access an online demo of the program being developed.

Licensing of development environments often requires additional monitoring and Microsoft is no different. Here we look at some of the key areas to address.

Audits & licensing

MSDN software looks the same as production software, meaning ITAM tools can’t differentiate between them. If you allow mixed production/development usage on the same infrastructure, getting an accurate picture of your license position will be very difficult. This will cause issues during an audit – how do you prove which licenses are development, and which are production? If you’re unable to do so, you face paying full production prices to rectify the “shortfall”. Having separate environments with a clear delineation of users is the ideal way to keep things clear.

Another tip is to make sure that licenses are only being used for test and development purposes:

• Developers installing Windows as the primary OS on their desktop?
• Using System Center to monitor the development environment?

Both of those scenarios constitute “production use” and would need licensing outside of Visual Studio subscriber software.

Licensing external users

Using outsourced development teams is very common and can cause some confusion when it comes to licensing.

• If the external user has their own Visual Studio license, they are permitted to access software in your development environment. Remember to ensure the license is of an appropriate level and includes the software/capabilities being accessed.
• If they don’t have their own license, you may assign one to them.

Be aware though that CALs cannot be used across organisations so if your external developers are using their own Visual Studio licenses and accessing your Azure DevOps infrastructure, you’ll need to purchase an Azure DevOps CAL for each of them.

Azure DevOps licensing

Azure DevOps servers require properly licensed Windows Server licenses and each user/device accessing the servers requires a Windows Server CAL. As CALs don’t allow access to servers of other organisations, Windows Server CALs will need to be assigned to any external users.

Each Azure DevOps license (other than Azure DevOps Server Express) allows the use of 1 x SQL Server Standard 2019, solely for use with that product. If these SQL databases are being used for other purposes, they will need to be fully licensed.

Although Azure DevOps CALs are required for many types of access, there are several cases where a CAL is not required – these include:

• Entering work items through any interface and viewing/editing any work items
• Accessing Azure DevOps Server reports
• Accessing Azure DevOps Server using Microsoft System Center Operations Manager i.e. to raise issues to the development team
• Up to two devices or users that only access Azure DevOps Server to perform system administration, such as creating Team Projects or Project Collections.
• Accessing Azure DevOps Server through a pooled connection from another integrated application or service
• Providing approvals to stages as part of the Release Management pipeline

Managing Visual Studio subscriptions in VLSC

This is a key part to retaining control over your Visual Studio spending and compliance – and making sure that you’re using as many of the benefits as possible.

Microsoft have a range of resources to help with this here:

Visual Studio Subscriptions Administration – Visual Studio (microsoft.com)

Visual-Studio-Subscriptions-Administrator-Handbook.pdf (microsoft.com)

Further Reading

Microsoft Visual Studio pricing page

Cloud subscription feature comparison

Related articles:

• Tags: Microsoft · Microsoft Development licensing · Microsoft Licensing · Visual Studio

About Rich Gibbons

One comment.

Great article. Gave me a couple things to look at on Monday!!

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Buy Microsoft Visual Studio Pro for $40 right now: Deal ends soon

H aving in-house development is a massive advantage for many businesses and a service for hire for successful, thriving companies worldwide. Regardless of your development needs, having a proven software on hand to help streamline workflows, amplify productivity, and keep projects on track is a must. It's even better to secure that software for a rate that will not dent your budget.

Right now, Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2022 for Windows is on sale for only $40 (reg. $499). Described as a "fully featured development environment," Visual Studio 2022 is Microsoft's first 64-bit IDE, and it became its best to date at working with complicated workloads and large-scale projects. This deal ends Wednesday.

Among the many advantages that come with having Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2022, users of the software can build across different languages and platforms, which opens up the range of potential projects they can take on immensely.

Visual Studio also comes with automated support systems like IntelliCode, which can understand the context of the code you're writing, and help add variable names, functions, and more to enable users to code more while typing less. Similar to AI-driven writing assistants, IntellliCode can complete a line or block of code for you, and it can offer lists of potential next-best options for you to move forward and discover solutions more easily. 

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Buy Microsoft Visual Studio Pro for $40 right now: Deal ends soon

Amplify your dev work with this deal on Visual Studio Pro 2022 right now. 

Having in-house development is a massive advantage for many businesses and a service for hire for successful, thriving companies worldwide. Regardless of your development needs, having a proven software on hand to help streamline workflows, amplify productivity, and keep projects on track is a must. It's even better to secure that software for a rate that will not dent your budget.

Right now, Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2022 for Windows is on sale for only $40 (reg. $499). Described as a "fully featured development environment," Visual Studio 2022 is Microsoft's first 64-bit IDE, and it became its best to date at working with complicated workloads and large-scale projects. This deal ends Wednesday.

Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2022

Among the many advantages that come with having Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2022, users of the software can build across different languages and platforms, which opens up the range of potential projects they can take on immensely.

Visual Studio also comes with automated support systems like IntelliCode, which can understand the context of the code you're writing, and help add variable names, functions, and more to enable users to code more while typing less. Similar to AI-driven writing assistants, IntellliCode can complete a line or block of code for you, and it can offer lists of potential next-best options for you to move forward and discover solutions more easily. 

Get  Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2022 for Windows  on sale for $40 now.

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