Visual Studio 2019 Community says my 30 day evaluation period ended

Question

I thought visual studio 2019 community didn't have a trial, thought the community version was free. I read the license and nowhere does it have a 30 day evaluation period.

How can I use visual studio 2019 community now?

Solution

I thought visual studio 2019 community didn't have a trial, thought the community version was free.

Visual Studio 2019 Community is still free. The 30 day evaluation period just means you have 30 days to sign in with your Microsoft account to activate it.

From visualstudio.microsoft.com:

Community Edition expired. Do I have to buy a license?

No, Community edition is free to use for many scenarios. You can find out more about it here.

In case your Community edition installation prompts you for a license, you might have to sign in to unlock the IDE.

Comments

[n8te]

The error message is telling you what to do: sign in. It is free but they just require you to sign in.

[ozalyppi]

@n8te I didn't have to do that for visual studio 2017 commmunity...

[n8te]

Yeah, it's changed. In previous versions you used an activation code. Not sure exactly which version that stopped but I do know with 2019 you have to sign in to activate it.

[ozalyppi]

@n8te thank you, now it is fixed

[harrymc]

@n8te: Since you solved the problem, you should add an answer.

[n8te]

@harrymc - Yeah, I should have. Done now.

[Najeeb]

You will get that message even if you are signed it. Basically you just need to click on the "check for an updated license" link, and it will update the license for you.

[Ramhound]

It was not specifically indicated, the Community edition of Visual Studio is free (as in air) but requires a free (as in air) license granted by requesting it and having a Microsoft account. This is partially due to the fact, Community cannot be used to write commercial software (per the terms of use), and the fact it's literally Visual Studio which requires a license.