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I just downloaded VSCode-linux-x64 from the Microsoft website. It's a 62 MB zip file. How can I install it on my Ubuntu system?

Knowledge Cube
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Rasool
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12 Answers12

164

Update

VSCode is now available as DEB file. You can download it and then run:

sudo dpkg -i ~/path/to/code_1.XXX.deb

In case dpkg complains about missing dependencies, run:

sudo apt -f install

afterwards to fix the problem.

Old answer

  1. Download Visual Studio Code for Linux
  2. Extract it: unzip VSCode-linux-x64.zip -d ~/path/to/VSCode
  3. Run the code executable to open Visual Studio Code
  4. (Optional) Create a symbolic link to conveniently run code from the terminal:
    sudo ln -s /path/to/VSCode/code /usr/local/bin/code

Source (install instructions): https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/linux

Community
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Cactux
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103

Visual Studio Code enabled official Linux repositories on February 2017 (v1.10)

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys EB3E94ADBE1229CF
sudo add-apt-repository -y "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main"
sudo apt -y install code

You can upgrade / dist-upgrade as usual

sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt -y dist-upgrade
tudor -Reinstate Monica-
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Gerard Rovira
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35

Now there's a .deb package for Ubuntu and Debian besides the rpm/zip. It is available here and may be installed as usual:

sudo dpkg -i vscode-amd64.deb

Works fine on Xenial. Maybe someone creates a PPA to simplify updates. Or it 'll become part of the official repository.

Update 03/17: Since version 1.10 (February 2017) there is built-in support for official Linux repositories. VS Code now can auto-update on Linux, although you have to install it one time manually.

JeffRSon
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20

Install the snap.

sudo apt install snapd-xdg-open
sudo snap install code --classic
Kulfy
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Martin Wimpress
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14

Since they provide a .deb file now I recommend using that instead of the approach below.

The way I've done it is as follows. Using a terminal:

  1. Create a directory for the files and change to this directory:

    mkdir msvs && cd msvs

The directory name is arbitrary.

  1. Unpack the zip file in your new folder:

    unzip ../Downloads/VSCode-linux-x64.zip

  2. Run the ide using

    ./VSCode-linux-x64/code &

You can also create a desktop link so that you can start it directly from the desktop or double-click in nautilus.

To create a menu entry:

  1. At the terminal, create a file

    sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/MSVS.desktop

and copy and paste the following:

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/opt/msvs/code
Name=MSVS
Icon=/opt/msvs/flurry_ios_visual_studio_2012_replacement_icon_by_flakshack-d5nnelp.png
Categories=Development

In my case the executable resides inside /opt/msvs.

sudo cp -R ~/Downloads/VSCode-linux-x64 /opt/msvs

I also downloaded an MS icon for this application from

wget http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/344/9/1/flurry_ios_visual_studio_2012_replacement_icon_by_flakshack-d5nnelp.png

and moved it to /opt/msvs:

sudo mv flurry*png /opt/msvs
Harris
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4

Visual Studio Code doesn't have to be installed, per se. Instead you can unzip the archive wherever you want it, then run the program by double-clicking the file called code (which is the main executable).

Here's a GUI-oriented procedure for doing so:

  1. Go to the Visual Studio Code site and click Download Code for Linux. (You should probably also review the license terms and privacy policy.)

  2. Make a new folder where you want Visual Studio Code to go. It's best to do this within your home folder (if other users want to use Visual Studio Code, it could be extracted separated for them--then any modifications or configuration changes will be per-user).

    This destination folder should be empty, as the .zip archive provided for download does not have everything in a top-level folder inside. For example, if you put software installed for your own user in ~/opt, you could create a new folder inside there called VSCode-linux-x64.

  3. Right click the downloaded .zip file and click Extract To..., then select the folder you created.

    If you prefer, or if your file browser doesn't show an Extract To... option, you could instead move the .zip file into the destination folder, right-click the icon, and click Extract Here.

  4. To run Visual Studio Code, double-click on the code executable, which is one of the files that was extracted.

    Currently Visual Studio Code is "preview" software, which means it is still being developed and is not yet fully stable. Therefore you might prefer to launch it from a terminal so that you can see possibly useful errors and warnings. To do that, open a Terminal window (Ctrl+Alt+T), cd to the directory where you extracted it, and run ./code.

mchid
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Eliah Kagan
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3

From Visual Studio Code's official docs:

  1. Download the .deb package from this page.
  2. Run the following command: sudo dpkg -i ~/path-to-file.deb
  3. If you get dependency errors when using dpkg with a package, run: sudo apt-get install -f

Note: Installing the .deb package will automatically install the apt repository and signing key to enable auto-updating using the regular system mechanism.

Jebin Philipose
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2

Installing VS Code on Ubuntu

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > microsoft.gpg
sudo mv microsoft.gpg /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.gpg
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list'

This will download the gpg key and copy and make the apt files. Then you can simply update and install vs code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install code
  • The advantage of this installation method is that you can simple update vscode using the apt-get update command. Works fine and I use vs code with the vim plugin for over 2 years (c, c++, python, md, latex, html, javascript ...).

BTW, VS Code will be a standard package in Ubuntu 18.04 (end of april 2018)!

abu_bua
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1

You can use new FLATPAK (flathub) repository to install on any linux distribution https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.visualstudio.code

FLATPAK automaticaly updates installed packages.

Jiří Doubravský
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1
  • Install gdebi package installer
  • Download .deb VSCode package from here
  • Install downloaded package using gdebi
Saikat
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1

I can't comment on the correct answer above (using PPA as of February), so I will add another detail here.

Visual Code depends on libgtk2.0-0 which it does not list as a dependency in the meta data. You might come across this problem if you, like me, setup minimal virtualbox installations just to troubleshoot difficult system level problems where you have to hack and slash packages which you don't want to do on your real host.

On minimal hosts, therefore the following is required in addition to what was mentioned above to get Visual Code to run:

sudo apt install libgtk2.0-0
user2427436
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0

  • Download the Powerbase installer script for Visual Studio Code

  • Become root

    sudo -i

  • Change to your download directory (probably ~/Downloads/)

    cd /home/*yourusername*/Downloads/

  • Run the installer script. If there are no errors, it will just exit…

    sh ./vscodeinstaller.sh

That’s it. Nothing special about this one and it should work in any Linux distribution. Just open your launcher and start typing Visual Studio Code.

Ilyes Boudjelthia
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