Overview

This tutorial provides instructions for installing Visual Studio Code on Ubuntu. While the steps outlined here may work for other versions of Ubuntu (and some non-Ubuntu Linux distributions), these instructions were tested against Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

Outcomes

  • A working code installation

Prerequisites

Before starting this tutorial, ensure that ...

Background

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a free and extensible cross-platform code editor released by Microsoft.

Installation

Step 1: Installing Visual Studio Code

  1. In your VM, open your web browser (ex. Firefox), and paste the following link:

  2. Click the .deb icon to download the VS Code.

vscode-download

  1. In the pop-up window, select the Save File option, and hit OK.

vscode-save-file

  1. Navigate to Files Downloads and double-click on the .deb file that you just downloaded.

vscode-file-click

  1. The installation window should appear. Click Install.

vscode-installation-page

You may be asked to enter your user password. Follow the directions presented.

vscode-user-password

Step 2: Starting Visual Studio Code

There are two main ways to start Visual Studio Code.

Option 1

In the Activities search bar type Visual Studio Code and click on the icon to launch the application.

vscode-search

Option 2

Open your terminal and type code:

code

vscode-start-with-terminal.png

This should cause VS Code to launch.

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