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February 22nd, 2023

Visual Studio 2022 can now Always Update on Close!

Sayyeda Mussa

Program Manager

Do you want Visual Studio 2022 to always stay up to date with the latest goodness with little-to-no action from your end? Then look no further, because as of now, we support the ability to “Always Update on Close”! Starting with Visual Studio 2022 version 17.5, we’ve made it easier to apply available updates when Visual Studio closes if you’ve made a one-time configuration change in Visual Studio. You can find this option in the Tools > Options > Product Updates dialog.

This setting is configurable on a per instance basis of Visual Studio 2022 and we highly encourage you to enable this feature to stay current, updated and secure. Then, you will be all set! For more information, please visit Update Visual Studio | Microsoft Learn.

Let us know your thoughts!

We would love to get your feedback on this feature, so please give it a try and let us know what you think. You can share any feedback via Developer Community to help us make Visual Studio better for you!

Author

Sayyeda Mussa

Program Manager

15 comments

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Greg Tulenko April 7, 2023 · Edited 0

Absolutely not!
Half the time when I run updates, my projects have issues and I have to track down what the latest update did to break my projects. Having updates happen automatically on close would just add another layer of confusion and frustration.
Roberto Mencia February 27, 2023 0

In every update there are new bugs and it’s not always good to update your VS without being 200% sure that your stuff still works. So many times I’ve updated and something stopped working.
Better to check the change log and only update if something really needed. I.e: no need to update if working on asp.net and the fixes are on C++ and xamarin.
Nikolay Baklicharov February 26, 2023 0

To be honest, many times when I update VS, the project stops building(C++), because of some kind of compiler regression or other kind of "fixes". We had times when our Jenkins pipelines were always installing the latest version of VS build tools once per day, but sadly enough, we often got compile errors and a really quick fix had to be developed to unblock the builds...

Yes, I know that I can use the latest version...
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To be honest, many times when I update VS, the project stops building(C++), because of some kind of compiler regression or other kind of “fixes”. We had times when our Jenkins pipelines were always installing the latest version of VS build tools once per day, but sadly enough, we often got compile errors and a really quick fix had to be developed to unblock the builds…

Yes, I know that I can use the latest version of VS with older version of MSVC, but that does require additional work which kind of defeats the purpose…

My suggestions regarding the topic:
1. Make better regression testing and prioritize fixing(and backporting) regression bugs(I have reported such bugs myself which are not fixed for months…).
2. Make the update more seamless. Like, install everything on the background and next time when I launch VS, I’m directly on the latest version. Something like how the modern browsers are updated.

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Stephen Jovanovic February 23, 2023 2

Not a bad idea. In fact its pretty good idea. Less work, and I’m into that big time!!!

Moreover, beats having to keep an eye on when updates and etc are they’re going to happen, and you don’t have to worry about missing any updates.
Neal Culiner February 23, 2023 1

Take it one step further, update in the background and just notify me VS 2022 was updated. I don’t want to see update dialogs, etc. Just do it.
Michael Taylor February 23, 2023 0

I won't be using this feature. I may want VS to auto-download the update (optionally) so it installs quicker but installing an update still prevents me from doing work. If I'm restarting VS because it is acting funny, or worse it crashed and is going to auto-restart then I don't want to wait for a VS update to run. Either the update should be an option when I shut down (Run now, not now, don't...
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I won’t be using this feature. I may want VS to auto-download the update (optionally) so it installs quicker but installing an update still prevents me from doing work. If I’m restarting VS because it is acting funny, or worse it crashed and is going to auto-restart then I don’t want to wait for a VS update to run. Either the update should be an option when I shut down (Run now, not now, don’t prompt me again) or it needs to be like the Windows updater and install things in the background while I continue working and then tell me I need to restart (or worse reboot) in order for the updates to take effect.

Furthermore I have several editions of VS and VS 2019 and VS 2022. Sometimes the installer needs me to get out of all of them in order to actually update. Shutting down one instance of VS doesn’t mean I don’t have other instances of the same version/edition, different editions or even different versions running so auto-install would cause problems.

Yet another issue is that I have to baby sit the installer until it actually starts installing components. Prior to that it may detect that one or more components are in use and offer to shut them down for me. The problem is that this UI looks the same as when the installer is doing something else (like preparing to run or trying to shut something down) AND it is generally in the background because I tell it to install and then switch to something else. So the installer that I left to run while I ate lunch doesn’t actually do anything until I come back and realize it has been waiting on me the whole time. So to auto-install this process would need to handle that case.

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Bela Zsir February 23, 2023 · Edited 2

No!
Most of the time when I close a program, I close it for a reason, and that reason is that I finished some work, and have to do some other, and very often this other thing is leaving my computer desk asap. With this feature I will have to wait for the update to finish up to 5-10 minutes more and only then I can shut down my computer. How stupid is that?...
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No!
Most of the time when I close a program, I close it for a reason, and that reason is that I finished some work, and have to do some other, and very often this other thing is leaving my computer desk asap. With this feature I will have to wait for the update to finish up to 5-10 minutes more and only then I can shut down my computer. How stupid is that? Or are you guys in Seattle leaving your computers on, running 24 hours a day? Thanks on behalf of the planet!
I want updates to happen when I want them, I am in control of my time, and not the machines. So please at least never make it compulsory and set it to off by default, so I don’t have to hunt it down.
Why isn’t this made on Open when it would be logical to do?

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- Nguyễn Gia February 28, 2023 0
  
  Yes. Microsoft always make problems with their updates
- Kevin McFarlane February 23, 2023 3
  
  It is off by default. Update on open would be worse, given how long it takes to update.
Scott Bloom February 22, 2023 5

I would much prefer if there was an option of “Yes, No, Prompt”

Being able to do it sometimes and not others, has a ton more value than “always” in either direction.
- Christine Ruana March 1, 2023 · Edited 0
  
  Hi @Scott - just fyi that the Prompt option you describe to "Update on Close" has already existed for over a year. We have a picture of it in our online docs that describe updates here. The way it works is if an update is detected, then the IDE will pop an update notification, and in that notification it asks if you want to "Update on Close". This method is specific to this update...
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  Hi @Scott – just fyi that the Prompt option you describe to “Update on Close” has already existed for over a year. We have a picture of it in our online docs that describe updates here. The way it works is if an update is detected, then the IDE will pop an update notification, and in that notification it asks if you want to “Update on Close”. This method is specific to this update instance only. All we added with the new feature discussed in the blog is the ability to make “Update on Close” be a permanent setting. It’s your choice if you want to Update on Close for this time only, or if you want to enable it all the time. Hope this helps clarify the behavior. 🙂
  
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- Peter Bernhardt February 27, 2023 0
  
  Yes! That would be great.
Flux February 22, 2023 1

Do you want Visual Studio 2022 to always stay up to date with the latest goodness with little-to-no action from your end?

No. Not really. It would add more uncertainty to my workflow. I wish updates only came on the second Tuesday of the month.
u8jka1b February 22, 2023 1

I always wondered why it isn’t part of windows updates feature „Receive updates for other Microsoft products when you update Windows“
- Christine Ruana March 1, 2023 0
  
  This is on our backlog. Please feel free to vote it up here.