Microsoft to end support for several Visual Studio versions

Microsoft is constantly improving the integrated development environment (IDE) Visual Studio. This is accompanied by the end of support for older versions of the IDE. Whoever touches it now has that revealed the development team in a blog post The group had already launched Visual Studio 2022 last November. Then it was about the future of the development environment, now it’s about moving to newer versions – as Microsoft will stop supporting several Visual Studio versions in the coming months. Microsoft provides five years of regular support (mainstream support) plus an additional five years of extended support for the IDE. The coming April is important for several variants of the IDE.

General Support, Extended Support, and Previews

The first to fall is support for Visual Studio 2017 and Visual Studio 2019 (version 16.7). Mainstream support ends on April 12, 2022. Visual Studio 2019 Preview channel support also ends in April. Users of these three IDE versions should consider moving to Visual Studio 2022, users of the previews can switch to the preview 2022 accordingly. At the end of this post, we have the exact dates and details of the end of support collected in a small list.

For users who have still installed Visual Studio 2012, it will soon be high time to make the switch. Microsoft reminds you that extended support for this version will end early next year. This affects the versions of Visual Studio 2012 Ultimate, Premium, Professional, Express for Web, Express for Windows Desktop, Team Explorer, and the Professional Trial Editions.

Visual Studio end of support

• Visual Studio 2012: Extended Support will end on January 9, 2023. Users are advised to upgrade to a newer version.
• Visual Studio 2017: Mainstream support ends on April 12, 2022. Until April 13, 2027, Extended Support releases security updates only for the base version 15.9.
• Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7: End of support on April 12, 2022. The recommended upgrade path is version 16.9 or later, or Visual Studio 2022.
• Visual Studio 2019 Preview Channel: Support ends in April 2022. Developers should move to the Release Channel or Visual Studio 2022 Preview.