KB 5072533 - Administrator updates to Visual Studio 2026

Summary

This is an administrator update for the Microsoft Visual Studio 2026 product line. It is intended for centralized IT administrators to easily deploy a Visual Studio update throughout their organization. This update presumes that Visual Studio 2026 or above is already installed on the computer. Applying this update will not initiate a brand-new installation.

Administrator updates to Visual Studio 2026 serve several purposes:

Feature Pack updates enable IT admins to advance client computers in their organization to a particular minor version of Visual Studio.
Security updates are designed to keep Visual Studio secure. They are applicable to all editions of Visual Studio, and they apply to all channels.
Quality updates are designed to deliver performance and reliability improvements to Enterprise, Professional, and Build Tools editions of Visual Studio, and they also apply to all channels.
Critical updates are designed to deliver non-security, high-impact fixes. They are applicable to all editions of Visual Studio that are on specific servicing baseline minor versions.

Refer to the online documentation for information about how to Enable administrator updates and Apply administrator updates.

For more information about which baselines are under support during which timeframes, refer to the Visual Studio Product Lifecycle and Servicing page.

For specific details about which fixes are in each version of administrator updates, see the Visual Studio release notes.

The title of each administrator update describes the result of the update. For example, if the name of the update is "Visual Studio 2026 Security Update (18.2.1)", then this update will apply to any clients on the Stable channel and update their version to 18.2.1.

Administrator update characteristics

The following table lists the key characteristics of the primary types of Visual Studio administrator updates.

Characteristic	Security updates	Feature updates	Quality updates	Critical Updates
Update Category	Security Updates	Feature Packs	Updates	Critical Updates
Available in Microsoft Update Catalog	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Available in WSUS	The three most recent security and critical updates are automatically available in WSUS.	Not by default. You can manually import feature updates from the Update Catalog into SCCM.	Not by default. You can manually import quality updates from the Update Catalog into SCCM.	The three most recent security and critical updates are automatically available in WSUS.
SKU applicability	All Visual Studio products	Only products licensed for Enterprise use	Only products licensed for Enterprise use	All Visual Studio products
Types of changes included as compared to previous release	Security fixes Quality fixes	Feature changes Security fixes Quality fixes	Quality fixes	Critical fixes Quality fixes

How to obtain and install administrator updates

Administrator security and critical updates for Visual Studio will be published regularly on the second Tuesday of every month. These updates will be available on both the Microsoft Update Catalog and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) so that they will be automatically available for deployment through standard enterprise management tools such as Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager.

Administrator quality updates and feature updates will be available through Microsoft Update Catalog. Enterprise admins can download the update from the catalog and run it directly on a client computer. Alternatively, they can select to Import the Update from the Microsoft Update Catalog into Configuration Manager (SCCM) if they want to deploy it more broadly.

These administrator updates are functionally equivalent to Visual Studio updates that are released and made available on the VisualStudio.com and My.VisualStudio.com websites.

Configuring client computers to receive administrator updates

The complete list of administrator update configuration options is documented online. The most common options are listed in the following sections.

Visual Studio Client Detector Utility

The Visual Studio Client Detector Utility must be installed on the client machines for the administrator updates to be properly recognized and received. This tool is automatically installed with Visual Studio, and it is also available to independently deploy from the Microsoft Update Catalog.

Encoding administrator intent

The client computers must be enabled to receive administrator updates. This step is necessary to make sure that the updates are not unintentionally or accidentally pushed out to unsuspecting client computers.

The AdministratorUpdatesEnabled key is designed for the administrator to encode administrator intent. This key can be in any of the standard Visual Studio locations as described in the Set Defaults for Enterprise Deployments of Visual Studio documentation. Admin access on the client computer is required in order to create and set the value of this key.

To configure the client computer to accept administrator updates, set the AdministratorUpdatesEnabled REG_DWORD key to 1.
If the AdministratorUpdatesEnabled REG_DWORD key is missing or is set to 0, administrator updates will be blocked from applying to the client computer.

Note: In the future, the explicit action of configuring the client computer to accept administrator updates might be relaxed, and the absence of the AdministratorUpdatesEnabled key will be an implicit opt-in.

Encoding Visual Studio user and developer intent

Users and developers can use a separate AdministratorUpdatesOptOut key to opt out of receiving administrator updates. The purpose of this key is to encode the intent of the Visual Studio user.

To configure the client computer to block administrator updates, set the AdministratorUpdatesOptOut REG_DWORD key to 1. The absence of the key, or a set value of 0, means that the Visual Studio user wants to receive administrator updates to Visual Studio.

Notice that the AdministratorUpdatesOptOut key (for encoding developer intent) is prioritized over the AdministratorUpdatesEnabled key (which encodes IT admin intent). If AdministratorUpdatesOptOut is set to 1, the update will be blocked on the client, even if the AdministratorUpdatesEnabled key is also set to 1. This action assumes that IT admins can access and monitor which developers chose to opt out, and that the two parties can then discuss whose needs are more important. IT admins can always change either key whenever they want.

Also, notice that both registry keys apply to all instances of Visual Studio that may be installed on the computer.

Reports and diagnostics

How to verify that the update was installed

You can use either of these methods to verify that the update was installed correctly:

On the client computer, start Visual Studio, select Help > About, and then verify that the version number matches the last number in the title of the intended update.
Use the vswhere tool to identify the various versions of Visual Studio on the computer. For more information, see Tools for detecting and managing Visual Studio instances.

Error codes

Client error codes are defined on the Applying Administrator Updates page.

Note: Visual Studio must be closed before you install the update. If Visual Studio is open or being used, the update installation will be aborted.

Feedback and support

You can use the following methods to provide feedback about Visual Studio administrator updates or report issues that affect the updates:

Refer to the Troubleshooting Visual Studio installation and upgrade issues guidance.
Ask questions to the community on the Visual Studio Setup Q&A Forum.
Go to the Visual Studio support page, and check whether your issue is listed in the FAQ. You can also select the Support Link button for chat help.
Leave feedback on the Administrator Update experience here.
Contact your organization’s technical account manager for Microsoft.