How to upgrade from VS 2017 to 2019?

Question

VS 2019 is RTM, and I was wondering what's the proper way to upgrade from VS 2017, is there a dedicated 'upgrade' method, or is it uninstall and install? Maybe install and uninstall?
What's the right way to do it without having to uninstall and reinstall same stuff for nothing?

Solution 1

We cannot directly upgrade VS 2017 to VS 2019. They are compatible and work side by side though (like the following). Please download and install VS 2019 from https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/releases/2019/release-notes

Solution 2

On Visual Studio Installer, You will see two tabs : Installed and Available. On Installed Tab, Visual Studio Community 2017, Click on More Drop-down, Choose Uninstall. Reboot is recommended before you begin with Installing Visual Studio Community 2019 from Available Tab.

Comments

[Shimmy Weitzhandler]

Hi Sara and thanks for your answer. I don't want them side by side, I want to replace 2017 with 2019, should I first install 2019 then uninstall the old one (like the comment above?

[David Weitz]

@Shimmy it's probably the safest bet to make sure 2019 is working correctly (and your projects and solutions open and build successfully) and then Uninstall 2017. All of your settings should sync when you login to your MS account when launching VS for the first time.

[Sara Liu - MSFT]

@Shimmy, like others recommended, we can firstly install the VS 2019 to use and sync, if you confirm that VS 2017 is not useful for your development, follow this doc: docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/… to remove the VS 2017. If you meet any issues during the uninstall and install process, please feel free to let me know.

[Stein Åsmul]

I would dedicate a machine to it, or install minimally on a virtual machine to test it out. Just my 2 cents.

[harmonica141]

Verified the approach. Installed 2019, ran it once to sync the settings, uninstalled 2017. VS2019 retains previously made settings.

[tnk479]

Does Microsoft charged for multiple licenses in a volume licensing environment when you have multiple versions installed side by side?