Visual Studio

Express for Desktop

Rise to the top of the most popular platform in the world.

Has anyone fully exploited all the possibilities of the Microsoft Windows desktop? Not by a long shot. Now you can go beyond the ordinary with everything you need to build powerful desktop applications in C#, VB.NET, and C++ and target them to new platforms like Windows 8. Get going. It’s time to take Windows to new places.

It speaks your favorite language

Develop in any native Windows language including C#, VB.NET, and C++. Extend your ambitions with support for Windows 8 desktop, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Forms (WinForms), and Win32. Whatever you choose, you’ll find a range of controls, frameworks, and client technologies to support your development.

Build great apps by design

Visually create your app with new designers for XAML. You’ll get to success faster with full feature support for layout, databinding, and template editing. You can also create Window 8 apps and take advantage of full IntelliSense support for modifying XAML.

Get everyday tasks done faster

How can you speed up your work? By having your favorite tools at your fingertips and everything else close by. With a new user interface, you’ll navigate through the code more easily, find common tasks faster, and save time with almost everything.

Connect devices with continuous services

Connect your app to the cloud with APIs that make it simpler to integrate continuous services. Or strike out on your own and use Visual Studio Professional 2012 to create your own services instead.

Write code. Leave the rest to us.

Move your development process to the cloud with Team Foundation Service, dramatically reducing your infrastructure maintenance and easily connecting to providers and external teams. With Team Foundation Service, your code is always safely managed and accessible.

System Requirements

Supported operating systems

Supported architectures

Hardware requirements