Microsoft Visual Studio

This geneset contains fodder for installing Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 in Windows catlets.

Usage

To install Visual Studio 2022 in your Windows catlets, add a gene reference:

fodder:
 - source: gene:dbosoft/msvs:vs2022

Configuration

The vs2022 gene supports the following variables to configure the installation:

Edition and Location

vs_edition
default value: Community
The Visual Studio edition to install. Valid values: Community, Professional, Enterprise.
vs_install_path
default value: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community
Installation directory. Automatically adjusts based on edition if using default path.

Installation Source

vs_iso_path
default value: empty
Optional path to a Visual Studio ISO file for offline installation. The gene will:
1. Try the provided ISO path
2. Auto-detect mounted ISOs on drives E: through H:
3. Fall back to downloading from the internet

Workloads and Components

vs_workloads
default value: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.ManagedDesktop;Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NetWeb
Semicolon-separated list of workload IDs to install. Common workloads:
- Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.ManagedDesktop - .NET Desktop Development
- Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NetWeb - ASP.NET and Web Development
- Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Azure - Azure Development
- Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop - Desktop Development with C++
- Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Data - Data Storage and Processing
vs_components
default value: empty
Semicolon-separated list of individual component IDs for fine-tuned control.
include_recommended
default value: true
Include recommended components for selected workloads.
include_optional
default value: false
Include optional components for selected workloads.

Localization

vs_languages
default value: en-US
Semicolon-separated list of language codes to install. Common codes:
- en-US - English (United States)
- de-DE - German
- fr-FR - French
- ja-JP - Japanese
- zh-CN - Chinese (Simplified)

Dev Drive Integration

dev_drive_letter
default value: empty
Optional drive letter for Dev Drive. When provided, Visual Studio will configure its project directories to use this drive. If not provided, the gene will auto-detect Dev Drive on Windows 11 or ReFS drives labeled as "Dev*".

Examples

Basic Installation

Install Community edition with default .NET workloads:

fodder:
 - source: gene:dbosoft/msvs:vs2022

Professional Edition with Azure Development

fodder:
 - source: gene:dbosoft/msvs:vs2022
   variables:
     - name: vs_edition
       value: Professional
     - name: vs_workloads
       value: "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Azure;Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Data"

Enterprise Edition with Multiple Languages

fodder:
 - source: gene:dbosoft/msvs:vs2022
   variables:
     - name: vs_edition
       value: Enterprise
     - name: vs_languages
       value: "en-US;de-DE;fr-FR"
     - name: vs_workloads
       value: "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.ManagedDesktop;Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop"

Offline Installation with ISO

Add the Visual Studio ISO as a disk to your catlet with recommended resource allocation:

cpu: 8
memory: 16384

drives:
 - name: sda
   size: 100
 - name: sdb
   source: \\server\share\vs_enterprise_2022.iso
   type: dvd

fodder:
 - source: gene:dbosoft/msvs:vs2022

The gene will automatically detect the mounted ISO on drives E: through H: and use it for offline installation.

Dev Drive Integration

Create a high-performance development environment with Dev Drive and Visual Studio:

name: vs-dev-environment
parent: dbosoft/win11-24h2-enterprise/starter

cpu: 8
memory: 16384

drives:
 - name: sda
   size: 60
 - name: sdb
   size: 100  # Dev Drive

fodder:
 # Configure Dev Drive first
 - source: gene:dbosoft/windevdrive:configure
   variables:
     - name: devdrive_name
       value: sdb
     - name: devdrive_letter
       value: E
     - name: devdrive_label
       value: DevDrive
 
 # Install Visual Studio with Dev Drive auto-detection
 - source: gene:dbosoft/msvs:vs2022
   variables:
     - name: vs_edition
       value: Community
     # VS will auto-detect the Dev Drive at E:

When Visual Studio detects a Dev Drive, it automatically creates the following directory structure:

E:\
├── source\
│   ├── repos\         # VS project location
│   ├── projects\      # Additional projects
│   └── templates\     # User templates
│       ├── ProjectTemplates\
│       └── ItemTemplates\
├── SymbolCache\       # Debug symbols
├── .nuget\            # NuGet packages
├── npm-cache\         # NPM cache
├── pip-cache\         # Python packages
└── [other caches...]  # Various development caches

Configuring Visual Studio for Dev Drive

When a Dev Drive is detected during Visual Studio installation, the gene automatically creates the appropriate directory structure on the Dev Drive. However, Visual Studio project settings are per-user and must be configured manually.

Manual Configuration in Visual Studio:

Open Visual Studio
Go to Tools → Options → Projects and Solutions → Locations
- Projects location: E:\source\repos
- User project templates: E:\source\templates\ProjectTemplates
- User item templates: E:\source\templates\ItemTemplates
Go to Tools → Options → Debugging → Symbols
- Symbol cache directory: E:\SymbolCache

Performance Benefits

Dev Drive provides approximately 25% better performance for:

Build operations
File I/O operations
Package restore
Git operations
IntelliSense indexing

Explicit Dev Drive Configuration

If you need to specify a particular drive letter (e.g., for Windows Server 2022 with ReFS):

fodder:
 - source: gene:dbosoft/msvs:vs2022
   variables:
     - name: dev_drive_letter
       value: D  # Explicitly use D: drive

Requirements

Base Image: Windows 10/11 or Windows Server 2019/2022
CPU: Minimum 4 cores, 8 recommended
Memory: Minimum 4 GB, 16 GB recommended
Disk: 20-50 GB depending on workloads

Recommended Catlet Configuration

cpu: 8
memory: 16384

drives:
 - name: sda
   size: 100

Licensing

Community: Free for individuals, open source, academic research, and small teams (up to 5 users)
Professional/Enterprise: Requires valid license or subscription

After installation, you'll need to activate the license by signing in with your Microsoft account or entering a product key.

References

Versioning

This geneset contains only fodder genes and is versioned with a major-minor version scheme.

There is no patch version - when a bug is fixed, a new minor version will be released.
A new major version is released when a gene is removed from the geneset.

The tag latest is updated with each released version. If you want to have a stable reference, don't use the latest tag, use a specific version tag.

Contributing

This geneset is maintained by dbosoft and is open for contributions.

You can find the repository for this geneset on github.com/dbosoft/eryph-genes.

License

All public dbosoft genesets are licensed under the MIT License.