Microsoft to End Support for Visual Studio 2015 This October

Microsoft has announced that support for Visual Studio 2015 will officially end on October 14, 2025. That’s the same date when Microsoft will end support for Windows 10.

In a support update published yesterday, the company is encouraging users still relying on the legacy IDE to move to Visual Studio 2022. For the uninitiated, it offers new features like GitHub integration, AI-powered Copilot, and support for .NET 8 and 9.

For developers and organizations still holding on to 2015, this sunset means no more security updates, bug fixes, or technical support. This affects all editions, including Enterprise, Professional, Community, Build Tools, and more.

Microsoft says that it will also affect components like Visual C++ Redistributable, SDKs, Remote Tools, and Release Management tools. “Upgrading isn’t just about staying supported—it’s about improving productivity and building on a more secure, modern stack,” says Paul Chapman, Microsoft’s Principal Program Manager.

For those using even older versions of Visual Studio, Microsoft also outlined key support timelines:

• Visual Studio 2017 (v15.9): Extended support ends April 13, 2027
• Visual Studio 2019 (v16.11): Supported through April 10, 2029
• Visual Studio 2022 (v17.14): Mainstream support until Jan 12, 2027, extended to 2032

More importantly, projects still built with MSVC Tools v140 (the compiler toolset used in VS 2015) will also need to be updated, even if opened in a newer IDE. All that said, Microsoft advises developers to migrate to the latest tools available in Visual Studio 2017 or newer.