Extend a trial version or update a license

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You tin evaluate a free trial of Visual Studio Professional or Visual Studio Enterprise for 30 days. And if yous sign in, you can extend the trial menstruum to 90 days. (Visual Studio Community is free without a trial period. However, you must sign in periodically to continue your license upward to engagement.)

To continue using Visual Studio after a trial menstruum ends, unlock information technology with an online subscription or a product cardinal.

Use an online subscription

  1. Choose the Sign in button in the upper-right corner of the IDE (or go to File > Account Settings to open the Account Settings dialog, and then choose the Sign in button).

  2. Enter the credentials for either a Microsoft account or a work or school account. Visual Studio finds a Visual Studio subscription or an Azure DevOps organization associated with your account.

Important

Visual Studio automatically looks for associated online subscriptions when you connect to an Azure DevOps arrangement from the Team Explorer tool window. When you lot connect to an Azure DevOps arrangement, you can sign in using both Microsoft and work or school accounts. If an online subscription exists for that user account, Visual Studio will automatically unlock the IDE for you.

For more information about Visual Studio subscriptions and how they piece of work, see the Subscriptions Support FAQ page.

Enter a production key

  1. Select File > Account Settings to open the Account Settings dialog, then cull the License with a Product Central link.

  2. Enter the product key in the infinite provided.

Tip

Pre-release versions of Visual Studio do not have production keys. You must sign in to the IDE to use pre-release versions.

For more information about Visual Studio product keys for Visual Studio and how to get them, see the Using product keys in Visual Studio subscriptions page.

Update a dried license

You might see a message in Visual Studio that says, "Your license has gone stale and must be updated."

Visual Studio stale license message

This message indicates that while your subscription might still be valid, the license token that Visual Studio uses to keep your subscription up to date hasn't been refreshed. Visual Studio reports that the license is dried because of one of the following reasons:

  • Yous haven't used Visual Studio or you lot haven't connected to the internet for an extended period of fourth dimension.
  • Yous signed out of Visual Studio.

Before the license token goes dried, Visual Studio first shows a alert message that asks you to reenter your credentials.

If you do non reenter your credentials, the token starts to go dried and the Account Settings dialog tells you how many days you have left before your token expires. Afterwards your token expires, you must reenter your credentials for the business relationship earlier y'all can continue using Visual Studio.

Important

If you are using Visual Studio for extended periods in environments with express or no cyberspace access, you should utilise a product fundamental to unlock Visual Studio to avoid interruption.

Update an expired license

If your subscription has expired and y'all no longer have access rights to Visual Studio, you must renew your subscription or add another account that has a subscription. To run into more information about the license you are using, become to File > Account Settings and look at the license information on the correct side of the dialog. If you lot have another subscription associated with a different account, add together that account to the All Accounts list on the left side of the dialog box by selecting the Add an business relationship link.

Become support

Sometimes, things go wrong. If you lot experience a problem, here are some support options:

  • Report production problems past using the Report a Problem tool.
  • Find answers to questions almost subscriptions, accounts, and billing in the Subscriptions Support FAQ.

Encounter besides

  • Sign in to Visual Studio
  • Compare Visual Studio editions
  • Acquire more about Visual Studio subscriptions