Visual Studio Code on Linux
See the Download Visual Studio Code page for a complete list of available installation options.
By downloading and using Visual Studio Code, you agree to the license terms and privacy statement.
Debian and Ubuntu based distributions
The easiest way to install Visual Studio Code for Debian/Ubuntu based distributions is to download and install the .deb package (64-bit), either through the graphical software center if it’s available, or through the command line with:
Note that other binaries are also available on the VS Code download page.
Installing the .deb package will automatically install the apt repository and signing key to enable auto-updating using the system’s package manager. Alternatively, the repository and key can also be installed manually with the following script:
Then update the package cache and install the package using:
RHEL, Fedora, and CentOS based distributions
We currently ship the stable 64-bit VS Code in a yum repository, the following script will install the key and repository:
Then update the package cache and install the package using dnf (Fedora 22 and above):
Or on older versions using yum :
Due to the manual signing process and the system we use to publish, the yum repo may lag behind and not get the latest version of VS Code immediately.
Visual Studio Code is officially distributed as a Snap package in the Snap Store:
You can install it by running:
Once installed, the Snap daemon will take care of automatically updating VS Code in the background. You will get an in-product update notification whenever a new update is available.
Note: If snap isn’t available in your Linux distribution, please check the following Installing snapd guide, which can help you get that set up.
Learn more about snaps from the official Snap Documentation.
openSUSE and SLE-based distributions
The yum repository above also works for openSUSE and SLE-based systems, the following script will install the key and repository:
Then update the package cache and install the package using:
AUR package for Arch Linux
To get more information about the installation from the AUR, please consult the following wiki entry: Install AUR Packages.
Nix package for NixOS (or any Linux distribution using Nix package manager)
There is a community maintained VS Code Nix package in the nixpkgs repository. In order to install it using Nix, set allowUnfree option to true in your config.nix and execute:
Installing .rpm package manually
The VS Code .rpm package (64-bit) can also be manually downloaded and installed, however, auto-updating won’t work unless the repository above is installed. Once downloaded it can be installed using your package manager, for example with dnf :
Note that other binaries are also available on the VS Code download page.
Updates
VS Code ships monthly and you can see when a new release is available by checking the release notes. If the VS Code repository was installed correctly, then your system package manager should handle auto-updating in the same way as other packages on the system.
Note: Updates are automatic and run in the background for the Snap package.
Node.js
Node.js is a popular platform and runtime for easily building and running JavaScript applications. It also includes npm, a Package Manager for Node.js modules. You’ll see Node.js and npm mentioned frequently in our documentation and some optional VS Code tooling requires Node.js (for example, the VS Code extension generator).
If you’d like to install Node.js on Linux, see Installing Node.js via package manager to find the Node.js package and installation instructions tailored to your Linux distribution. You can also install and support multiple versions of Node.js by using the Node Version Manager.
To learn more about JavaScript and Node.js, see our Node.js tutorial, where you’ll learn about running and debugging Node.js applications with VS Code.
Setting VS Code as the default text editor
xdg-open
You can set the default text editor for text files ( text/plain ) that is used by xdg-open with the following command:
Debian alternatives system
Debian-based distributions allow setting a default editor using the Debian alternatives system, without concern for the MIME type. You can set this by running the following and selecting code:
If Visual Studio Code doesn’t show up as an alternative to editor , you need to register it:
Windows as a Linux developer machine
Another option for Linux development with VS Code is to use a Windows machine with the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
Windows Subsystem for Linux
With WSL, you can install and run Linux distributions on Windows. This enables you to develop and test your source code on Linux while still working locally on a Windows machine. WSL supports Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Debian, SUSE, and Alpine available from the Microsoft Store.
When coupled with the WSL extension, you get full VS Code editing and debugging support while running in the context of a Linux distro on WSL.
See the Developing in WSL documentation to learn more or try the Working in WSL introductory tutorial.
Next steps
Once you have installed VS Code, these topics will help you learn more about it:
-
— Learn how to install Git, Node.js, TypeScript, and tools like Yeoman. — A quick orientation to VS Code. — Learn how to configure VS Code to your preferences through settings.
Common questions
Azure VM Issues
I’m getting a "Running without the SUID sandbox" error?
You can safely ignore this error.
Debian and moving files to trash
If you see an error when deleting files from the VS Code Explorer on the Debian operating system, it might be because the trash implementation that VS Code is using is not there.
Run these commands to solve this issue:
Conflicts with VS Code packages from other repositories
Some distributions, for example Pop!_OS provide their own code package. To ensure the official VS Code repository is used, create a file named /etc/apt/preferences.d/code with the following content:
"Visual Studio Code is unable to watch for file changes in this large workspace" (error ENOSPC)
When you see this notification, it indicates that the VS Code file watcher is running out of handles because the workspace is large and contains many files. Before adjusting platform limits, make sure that potentially large folders, such as Python .venv , are added to the files.watcherExclude setting (more details below). The current limit can be viewed by running:
The limit can be increased to its maximum by editing /etc/sysctl.conf (except on Arch Linux, read below) and adding this line to the end of the file:
The new value can then be loaded in by running sudo sysctl -p .
While 524,288 is the maximum number of files that can be watched, if you’re in an environment that is particularly memory constrained, you may want to lower the number. Each file watch takes up 1080 bytes, so assuming that all 524,288 watches are consumed, that results in an upper bound of around 540 MiB.
Arch-based distros (including Manjaro) require you to change a different file; follow these steps instead.
Another option is to exclude specific workspace directories from the VS Code file watcher with the files.watcherExclude setting. The default for files.watcherExclude excludes node_modules and some folders under .git , but you can add other directories that you don’t want VS Code to track.
I can’t see Chinese characters in Ubuntu
We’re working on a fix. In the meantime, open the application menu, then choose File > Preferences > Settings. In the Text Editor > Font section, set "Font Family" to Droid Sans Mono, Droid Sans Fallback . If you’d rather edit the settings.json file directly, set editor.fontFamily as shown:
Package git is not installed
This error can appear during installation and is typically caused by the package manager’s lists being out of date. Try updating them and installing again:
The code bin command does not bring the window to the foreground on Ubuntu
Running code . on Ubuntu when VS Code is already open in the current directory will not bring VS Code into the foreground. This is a feature of the OS which can be disabled using ccsm .
Under General > General Options > Focus & Raise Behaviour, set "Focus Prevention Level" to "Off". Remember this is an OS-level setting that will apply to all applications, not just VS Code.
Cannot install .deb package due to "/etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list: No such file or directory"
This can happen when sources.list.d doesn’t exist or you don’t have access to create the file. To fix this, try manually creating the folder and an empty vscode.list file:
Cannot move or resize the window while X forwarding a remote window
If you are using X forwarding to use VS Code remotely, you will need to use the native title bar to ensure you can properly manipulate the window. You can switch to using it by setting window.titleBarStyle to native .
Using the custom title bar
The custom title bar and menus were enabled by default on Linux for several months. The custom title bar has been a success on Windows, but the customer response on Linux suggests otherwise. Based on feedback, we have decided to make this setting opt-in on Linux and leave the native title bar as the default.
The custom title bar provides many benefits including great theming support and better accessibility through keyboard navigation and screen readers. Unfortunately, these benefits do not translate as well to the Linux platform. Linux has a variety of desktop environments and window managers that can make the VS Code theming look foreign to users. For users needing the accessibility improvements, we recommend enabling the custom title bar when running in accessibility mode using a screen reader. You can still manually set the title bar with the Window: Title Bar Style ( window.titleBarStyle ) setting.
Broken cursor in editor with display scaling enabled
Due to an upstream issue #14787 with Electron, the mouse cursor may render incorrectly with scaling enabled. If you notice that the usual text cursor is not being rendered inside the editor as you would expect, try falling back to the native menu bar by configuring the setting window.titleBarStyle to native .
Repository changed its origin value
If you receive an error similar to the following:
Use apt instead of apt-get and you will be prompted to accept the origin change:
How can I update Visual Studio Code on Ubuntu?
I downloaded the .tar.gz version of VS Code for Ubuntu (64-bit) and have been able to run it smoothly for some time. Some extensions have been installed too.
How can I efficiently update this VS Code installation? One thing I can think of is to just download the new .tar.gz archive and extract to the same location, just keeping the old «extensions» folder.
If I use the .deb version, would the same process be needed? Would I download the new .deb every time there is an update?
11 Answers 11
The following commands work for me:
Place those two commands into an executable Bash script called auto-update-vscode , and you can simply run that from your shell any time Visual Studio Code says it’s out of date.
Updated answer October 2021:
If you installed the software using the .deb file you don’t have to download the package manually. You can just do:
Vladimir S. posted the correct solution, although he originally didn’t link directly to the section that had the answer. The direct link is here.
For those who’d rather not click, here’s the official solution per Microsoft:
Debian and Ubuntu based distributions
The easiest way to install for Debian/Ubuntu based distributions is to download and install the .deb package (64-bit) either through the graphical software center if it’s available or through the command line with:
Installing the .deb package will automatically install the apt repository and signing key to enable auto-updating using the regular system update mechanism (apt update). Note that 32-bit and .tar.gz binaries are also available on the download page.
The repository and key can also be installed manually with the following script:
Then update the package cache and install the package using:
In true Microsoft style, they decided to call the package just code . So download the latest .deb and:
Configuration files, installed extensions and even currently used folder are preserved.
Since version 1.10.2, Visual Studio Code has got the official signed repositories for Linux. Please look here.
Use the script available in this repository: github.com/moeenz/vscode-updater
Visual Studio Code is officially distributed as a Snap package in the Snap Store:
You can install it by running:
Once installed, the Snap daemon will take care of automatically updating VS Code in the background. You will get an in-product update notification whenever a new update is available.
If you get an error message
The simplest solution is to download the latest binary from the Official Source and then install it by executing the following:
This will reinstall code over the older version. Your settings and installed extensions will remain unchanged as expected.
There are two PPAs hosted on GitHub and openSUSE. You can use https://github.com/tagplus5/vscode-ppa before Visual Studio Code has its official PPA.
Follow the steps given below:
Download the latest version of Visual Studio Code as a .deb package.
Install GDebi Package Installer (if not installed).
Then remove Visual Studio Code (older version) by opening its .deb package (which you downloaded earlier) using GDebi Package Installer and then click on «Remove Package» option.
Then open the .deb package of the latest version of Visual Studio Code using GDebi Package Installer and click «Install Package» and install latest version of Visual Studio Code.
All your configurations (packages installed and other customisations) in Visual Studio Code which you did earlier will be restored automatically even after following the above procedure. So you need not worry about installing the packages again. You will find those customisations and packages automatically in the latest version you have installed.
Updating through this procedure doesn’t remove/purge configuration files of Visual Studio Code and that’s why, all your configurations in Visual Studio Code are restored.
This procedure works also for other code editors, like Sublime Text 3 and Atom. I have myself tested and verified it.
How to update to the latest release
The following shows you how to update to the latest release of Visual Studio Code.
Note: For Mac and Windows users, we have enabled the auto-update channel. If you’re prompted by VS Code, accept the newest update and it will get installed (you won’t need to do anything else to get the latest bits).
Auto-updates are not supported for Linux.
Updating on Linux
- Download the VS Code zip file: 64-bit or 32-bit.
- Open the zip and run Code
Updating on OS X
You need to do this only if auto-update did not complete.
- Download the VS Code zip file from here.
- Open the zip file and drag Code over to Applications.
- Launch Code.
Updating on Windows
You need to do this only if auto-update did not complete.
Important: Close any running instances of VS Code before attempting to update (to avoid VS Code not being able to start after you update).
- Run the installer from here.
- If you have trouble with the Windows installer, download the VS Code zip file from here.
Common Questions
Q: How do I know which version I’m running?
A: In Linux and Windows, choose Help, About. In OS X, use Code, About Visual Studio Code.
Q: What are the supported operating system versions needed to run Visual Studio Code?
How to update VS Code on Windows?
I have VS Code version 1.37.1 and I want to update to the current available version 1.43. My OS is Windows 10.
How can I update the current version to the latest?. Like in Eclipse, check for updates is not updating the installation, rather it gives me a zip.
8 Answers 8
VS Code will automatically update itself on windows 10. If you’d like to force an update check there’s an option available for that under ‘Help > Check for Updates’.
If the update still doesn’t complete, you can run the installer from here as described in the official Visual Studio Code Documentation under Docs » Supporting » Howtoupdate, found here.
If Update:Mode in VS Code’s setting is on ‘none’ , ‘Check for Updates . ‘ option will disappear from Help. Just be sure it’s not on ‘none’ then you can check for updates.
2021-12-15, if you don’t see Check for Updates. then Settings 
Make sure it’s not none 
Then Help, Check for updates. , it won’t auto-install. Once it downloads the update, either Help, Install update, or 
Normally you don’t need to do anything. The default configuration auto-updates and tells you it needs a restart.
If you experience different behaviour then either someone has interfered with settings in VS Code or the platform (Win/Lin/Osx) is misconfigured.
Type Ctrl+, or your platform equivalent and then filter for «update», then inspect your settings to see what may be mucked up. You can also force an update in the Help menu, and if this results in the download of a zip file it’s not VS Code that’s messed up, it’s your platform.