This is sort of a follow-up to an earlier post that I made, but I'll summarize the issue. I have more information now, but there are still some problems that are quite puzzling, and I'd very much appreciate if anyone could answer my questions for me.

So here's the problem. I use a program called Visual Studio, which is for creating other programs, but I haven't upgraded it in a long time, because I really didn't need to. I have version 2012, and I run it on a computer with Windows 7, but it has come to my attention that I'm going to need to be able to make programs that run both on Windows AND on Macintosh computers.

The first problem is that version 2012 isn't compatible with Macintosh. Any version from 2015 onward supposedly will work on Macintosh and also on Windows, so it would seem that I need to upgrade to one of the newer versions (2015, 2017 or 2019).

However, that presents another problem. Even though I can get any of the newer versions (or at least 2017 and 2019, but I'm not sure about 2015) from Microsoft's website for free, the installers are weird. Instead of downloading large, compressed installation files and then extracting them to install (like I did with previous versions), the new versions have very small installers, which don't contain all of the data, but rather, they automatically download the necessary data during the installation process. The problem with this is that the computer that I want to install it on does NOT have an internet connection, and giving it one is NOT an option (so please don't suggest that, because it's not happening - sorry).

Anyway, everything that I've said so far is a summary of just about everything that I presented in an earlier post, but since then, even though I haven't been able to find a full installer (one that contains ALL of the necessary information) for the newest versions of Visual Studio, I have managed to find a page on Microsoft's website explaining how to install the program onto one computer (which would be the one that I'm using right now, and it's obviously online) and then migrate it to the other computer (which looks kind of like a pain to do, but I can do it if I need to, so I'm not really worried about that). Anyway, here's the page for reference:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/create-an-offline-installation-of-visual-studio?view=vs-2019

HOWEVER, it gets tricky yet again. The first problem is that according to the page, I should follow the instructions under the heading labeled "Use the command line to create a local cache". But at the beginning of Step 2, in the blue box it says "If you install Visual Studio Community, you must activate it within 30 days of installation. This requires an internet connection." That sort of turns into a problem when I want to run it on a computer which doesn't have an internet connection, doesn't it?! And what I don't understand is that the "Community" edition is free, so why would that be the one which specifically must be activated? That seems backwards!

But anyway, it also mentions something about installing and refreshing certificates or something, and says that it must be done in order for it to work. I don't know whether that's the same thing as what had been referred to as "activation" or whether it's something different (frankly, I don't normally deal with this kind of crap). Does anyone know the answer to that question? Here's a page dealing with certificates:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/install-certificates-for-visual-studio-offline?view=vs-2019

But it looks potentially complicated, so I thought I'd only worry about it if I'm sure that it will be an issue, and at this point, I have no idea whether it will be. And even if I can't necessarily get it activated and/or certified, and it expires after a month, I may still be able to use it by just taking code that I've written in the old version, and then compiling it in the new version during the 30 days in which it works (the "trial period" I suppose).

But even aside from ALL of that, there's yet ANOTHER problem! Judging by the installer files which are available, as seen on these pages:

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-core/2.1

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-core/2.2

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-core/3.0

It seems as though the only versions of Visual Studio which will work on Macintosh are the 64-bit versions. But even though the computer that I'll be using Visual Studio on is 64-bit, the computer that I would have to download the files onto (using the indirect installation process that I implied earlier) is only 32-bit, so I'm afraid that it might possibly not allow me to run the installer which downloads it, and it might just give me an error instead, just because it's not 64-bit! And then if I can't download it onto this computer, how could I migrate it onto the other one?

Anyway, I'm hesitant to start this process until I'm sure how to do it the correct way, but any suggestions that you could offer would be appreciated. Or if anyone happens to have a FULL installation file for Visual Studio version 2015 or later, I could really use a copy! Thanks.



P.S.: If anyone has any full installers for older versions of Visual Studio (before 2015), I'd appreciate that as well, in case I ever need to reinstall it, because for some reason I can't find it available to download anymore. I thought I had a backup copy but I can't find it, and without that I don't know what I'd do!

VisualStudio comes as a install loader. You cannot get a full package like before (I don’t know about the paid one). There are various reasons for this:
The install is compartmentalised, you install what you.
The installer allows you to add and remove components.
The installer checks dependencies and installs various things, not just you selection.
The installer sets up links, paths and registry and things so it all works.

Thus creating your own copy will require a lot of effort, it’s not a simple install. Question is why bother?
In terms of older versions, would avoid unless you have a specific reason. Newer versions have lots of changes and improvements.

From my understanding, if you buy the product it is just a key, like windows. You would still need to use the downloader.

For earlier versions, you could try eBay, though if the key is dead then you would need to go through the reactivation process.

I suppose the question would be why can you not use the installer stub? Is it lack of internet connection? Afraid everything nowadays requires internet, VS you will need it for getting packages for your projects. So even if you can install it you won’t get all functionality.

Couldn't agree more! I also tried to find a solution to this a while ago and eventually gave up without finding an answer. The professional version can be activated offline apparently, but then that's paid DRM whereas the Community Edition is free DRM ;)

I chose neither.

Hope you'll find an acceptable solution.

AB2012: Thanks a ton! I see that the downloads are several gigabytes, so they're definitely the full installers. But how did you ever find these, and I noticed that two of the links are from Microsoft's website, but link directly to the files. Do you happen to have a link to the page that has the links for those files, just in case I ever need to look at that page for anything else or if they ever add newer versions in the future or something? Thanks again! EDIT: Oh, I'm not sure whether that's necessary, because I just realized that one of your links is to a page with a bunch of links, but still, I guess if Microsoft has it directly on their website then it might end up being more reliable in the long run, but I wouldn't necessarily count on that - who knows?

agogfan: Wow, you're really enamored with GOG, huh? Anyway, I noticed your "GoodOfflineGames" thing, along with what you wrote, so I guess you feel the same way about it as I do. Yeah, I want absolutely no DRM, so I can't buy the thing, but I didn't even realize that version 2015 was available with a full installer, so I'm very happy now (but I don't count my chickens before they hatch, so I'll wait until I get a chance to actually try it).


P.S.: AB2012, that link to the page with several links also has some Professional and Enterprise editions, but do they require a key of some sort that I don't have? Are the people who made the website assuming that people have the keys but just don't have the software itself?

Serious piece of advice - never rely on Microsoft to do the sensible thing in the long run! ;-) Honestly, I'd just grab whatever version works best for you now and then back up the installer now. There's been more than one occasion where I was glad I had a local backup of some installer / hotfix after they removed it on their website downloads years later. They often remove stuff to 'encourage' you to upgrade. I would think so for the premium editions. It's a bit like Windows / Office ISO's, you can legally download them but need a key to activate them to remove any limitations. I don't have experience with using Visual Studio though (I'm not a programmer myself), so I don't really know what versions will work / activate offline.

So what do you need Visual Studio for that something like say KDevelop, Geany, or Atom can't accomplish?

Or more importantly, what is Visual Studio? Is it an IDE?

That's a good point. A better word for 'encourage' might be 'force'. I usually hate upgrading. My favorite OS is still Windows 2000! Alright, then I should probably use the Community version, but I downloaded all three just to be safe. Thanks again. I'm not sure what those three things are but they sound very Linux-y, and I'm using Windows, so that's a good reason. Also, because all of my code is written in C#, which is another good reason to be using Visual Studio. And if you don't know what it is, then I'm not sure how you can compare it to other things and ask why I don't use them instead, or am I missing something? Anyway, to answer your question, yes it's an IDE for .NET programming, typically using either VB.NET or C#, but it's also compatible with C++ and probably a couple of lousy things too, but I'm not sure.


Anyway, I'll try this out as soon as I can, but I'm pretty busy lately. I'm just glad to finally have the files that I need! Thanks again, and I guess I'll consider this question answered for now, and I'll just post again later if anything goes wrong. But feel free to reply with anything you want if you think that there's any information that I could use, or don't, but thanks anyway.