Lifecycle FAQ - Developer Tools

Originally published: July 18, 2016

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Microsoft Visual Studio

What is the Lifecycle Policy for Visual Studio?

Visual Studios follows the established Microsoft Fixed Policy of five years Mainstream Support and five years Extended Support. Note, however, the following:

  • Minor version releases are supported only until the subsequent minor version is released.
  • Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) releases are supported for an additional period.
  • The final minor version release for a Visual Studio major version will be supported through the Extended Support period.
  • Online services that are offered as part of the Visual Studio suite of products follow the established Modern Policy.
  • Some runtimes and components included with Visual Studio, including third-party components, follow separate lifecycle policies.

Details about lifecycle and servicing for Visual Studio can be found on the Visual Studio Product Lifecycle and Servicing page.

What lifecycle policy do external components follow that are offered within the Visual Studio suite?

Visual Studio includes a collection of compilers, languages, runtimes, environments, and other resources that enable development for many Microsoft platforms. As a convenience to our Visual Studio customers, Visual Studio may install certain Microsoft SDKs and other Microsoft components that target and support those Microsoft platforms. These components may be licensed and supported under their own terms and policies. See the list of components that are considered to be external to Visual Studio and their related lifecycle policies on the Visual Studio Product Lifecycle and Servicing page.

What is the service pack policy for Visual Studio?

Visual Studio no longer provides service packs. Instead, we offer minor version updates that include bug fixes and new features, as well as servicing releases that include bug fixes. Minor version releases are supported only until the subsequent minor version is released. We also offer Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) releases that are supported for an additional period. You must be using the LTSC to receive this support. When Microsoft designates a minor version release as a Long-Term Servicing Channel, the Lifecycle Policy Database will reflect the appropriate support end dates.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for Visual Studio for Mac?

Visual Studio for Mac follows the Modern Policy. Support for Visual Studio for Mac will end on August 31, 2024.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for Visual Studio Code?

Visual Studio Code is offered “as is,” and follows the Modern Policy. For more information, see also the Visual Studio Code FAQ.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for Azure DevOps and Azure DevOps Server?

Azure DevOps follows the Modern Policy according to the Azure support policy and Microsoft Online Services SLA. See also the Azure FAQ.

Azure DevOps Server follows the established Microsoft Fixed Policy of five years Mainstream Support and five years Extended Support.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for C# DevKit?

What is the Lifecycle Policy for Microsoft Dev Box?

Microsoft Dev Box follows the Modern Policy according to the Azure support policy and Microsoft Online Services SLA. See also the Azure FAQ.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for extensions for Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code?

Extensions for Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code are generally offered "as-is". Some extensions may follow the Modern Policy. See the Marketplace page for each extension for details.

Languages, Runtimes, and SDKs

What is the Lifecycle Policy for the .NET platform, including .NET, .NET Framework, .NET MAUI, ASP.NET, and WCF?

The .NET platform family is composed of a number of technologies, including .NET/.NET Core, .NET Framework, .NET MAUI, ASP.NET, WCF Client, CoreWCF, and Xamarin. Each of these has a separate support policy. For more information see the .NET Support Policy.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for Xamarin?

Xamarin follows the Modern Policy. Support for Xamarin will end May 1, 2024.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for managed languages, including C#, Visual Basic.NET, and F#?

When included in another Microsoft product, the C#, F#, and Visual Basic.NET language tools (including the compilers, MSBuild, etc.) follow the support lifecycle of the product in which they ship. Any open source implementation is supported per the policy provided in the Github project for that technology.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for C++ tools and runtime?

The Microsoft Visual C++ tools and Redistributable follow the product lifecycle for the version of Visual Studio in which they first ship even if they ship in a subsequent version of Visual Studio or an extension for Visual Studio Code. For reference, here is a list of the latest supported versions of the Visual C downloads.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for TypeScript?

TypeScript servicing is limited to the latest release. When included in another Microsoft product, TypeScript follows the Modern Policy. For more information, see the TypeScript support policy.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for Azure SDK?

Azure SDKs follow the Modern Policy. For more information, see the Azure SDK lifecycle and support policy and the Azure FAQ.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for Windows SDK?

Windows SDK is supported according the lifecycle of the corresponding version of Windows.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for Java?

The Microsoft Build of OpenJDK follows the Modern Policy. For more information, see Support roadmap for the Microsoft Build of OpenJDK. The support policy, if any, for Microsoft extensions for Java development can be found in the GitHub project for that extension.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for Python?

Python support in Visual Studio follows the Modern Policy and is limited to the versions shipped in that version of Visual Studio and that remain supported by the Python Software Foundation. See also the Python Developer's Guide for details.

The support policy for the Python extension for Visual Studio Code can be found in the Python GitHub project.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for the Unity tools and extensions?

What is the Lifecycle Policy for the Visual Studio Tools for Office Runtime?

The Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime (VSTO Runtime) ships with various versions of Visual Studio and Microsoft Office and follows the support lifecycle of the parent product. For more information on the VSTO Runtime Support Lifecycle, see Visual Studio Tools for Office Runtime Lifecycle Policy.

Legacy Tools and Technologies

What is the Lifecycle Policy for Microsoft Silverlight?

Microsoft Silverlight support for all browsers and operating systems ended October 12, 2021. Go here to learn more.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for Microsoft LightSwitch?

Visual Studio 2015 is the last release of Visual Studio that includes the LightSwitch tooling. We recommend users not begin new application development with LightSwitch. We will continue to support users with existing LightSwitch applications as per the Microsoft Support Lifecycle. Mainstream support for Visual Studio 2015 ended 13 October 2020. Extended support ends 14 October 2025.

What is the Lifecycle Policy for Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0?

Microsoft is committed to support existing Visual Basic 6.0 applications that run on versions of Windows and Windows Server currently under support. As detailed here, the core Visual Basic 6.0 runtime will be supported for the full lifetime of Windows operating system with which it shipped for serious regressions and critical security issues.

Visual Basic 6.0 is made up of these key deliverables:

  • Visual Basic 6.0 IDE [integrated development environment] is no longer supported as of April 8, 2008.

  • Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime—the base libraries and execution engine used to run VB6 applications.

  • Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime Extended Files—select ActiveX control OCX files.