Visual Studio 
Visual Studio Hardware Requirements 

This topic has been updated for Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Update for Windows Vista.

This topic contains hardware requirements for installing the various Visual Studio 2005 editions and the Express editions that are available for Visual Studio programming languages. The topic also contains tips for improving the performance of Visual Studio.

Visual Studio Editions

The computer on which you install your Visual Studio edition should meet the following system requirements. For information about Visual Studio Team System requirements, see Visual Studio 2005 Team System Requirements.

Requirement Professional Standard Visual Studio Tools for Office

Processor

600 MHz processor

Recommended: 1 gigahertz (GHz) processor1

Same

Same

RAM

192 MB

Recommended: 256 MB1

Same

256 MB

Available Hard Disk Space

Without MSDN:

  • 1 GB of available space required on system drive2

  • 2 GB of available space required on installation drive

With MSDN:

  • 1 GB of available space required on system drive

  • 3.8 GB of available space required on installation drive with a full installation of MSDN

  • 2.8 GB of available space required on installation drive with a default installation of MSDN

Same

Same

Operating System

Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, or Windows Vista3,4

For a 64-bit computer, the requirements are as follows:

  • Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 x64 editions

  • Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

Same

Same

CD-ROM Drive or DVD-ROM Drive

Required5

Required

Required

Video

800 X 600, 256 colors

Recommended: 1024 X 768, High Color 16-bit

Same

Same

Mouse

Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device

Same

Same

1. Performance has not been tuned for minimum system configuration. Increasing the RAM above the recommended system configuration will improve performance, specifically when you are running multiple applications, working with large projects, or doing enterprise-level development.

2. When you start the Visual Studio installer, the default installation location is the system drive, which is the drive that boots the system. However, you can install the application on any drive. Regardless of the application's location, the installation process installs some files on the system drive. Consequently, make sure that the required amount of space, as listed in this table, is available on the system drive regardless of the application's location, and make sure that the required additional space, as listed in this table, is available on the drive on which you install the application.

3. Windows XP Home Edition does not support local Web application development. Local Web application development is supported only in the Professional or Server versions of Windows.

4. Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server is not a supported operating system.

5. The type of media provided with the product determines whether a CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive is required.

Express Editions

The computer on which you install these editions should meet the following system requirements.

Requirement Visual C# Visual J# Visual Basic Visual Web Developer Visual C++

Processor

Computer with a Pentium III-class processor, 600 MHz

Recommended: 1 gigahertz (GHz)1

Same

Same

Same

Same

RAM

192 MB

Recommended: 2561

Same

Same

Same

Same

Available Hard Disk Space

Required

Basic capacity:

  • 40 MB of available space required on system drive

  • 160 MB of available space required on installation drive

.NET Framework:

  • Additional 24 MB of available space required on system drive

  • Additional 300 MB of available space required on installation drive

Optional

With MSDN Express:

  • Additional 166 MB of available space required on system drive

  • Additional 600 MB of available space required on installation

With SQL Server Express:

  • Additional 80 MB of available space required on system drive

  • Additional 350 MB of available space required on installation2

Required

Basic capacity:

  • 45 MB of available space required on system drive

  • 190 MB of available space required on installation drive

NET Framework:

  • Same

Optional

With MSDN Express:

  • Same

With SQL Server Express:

  • Same

Required

Basic capacity:

  • 45 MB of available space required on system drive

  • 200 MB of available space required on installation drive

NET Framework:

  • Same

Optional

With MSDN Express:

  • Same

With SQL Server Express:

  • Same

Required

Basic capacity:

  • 45 MB of available space required on system drive

  • 110 MB of available space required on installation drive

.NET Framework:

  • Same

Optional

With MSDN Express:

  • Same

With SQL Server Express:

  • Same

Required

Basic capacity:

  • 75 MB of available space required on system drive

  • 330 MB of available space required on installation drive

.NET Framework:

  • Same

Optional

With MSDN Express:

  • Same

With SQL Server Express:

  • Same

Operating System

Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Vista3,4

Same

Same

Same

Same

CD-ROM Drive or DVD-ROM Drive

Not Required5

Not Required

Not Required

Not Required

Not Required

Video

800 x 600, 256 colors Recommended: 1024 x 768, High Color 16-bit

Same

Same

Same

Same

Mouse

Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

Same

Same

Same

Same

1. Performance has not been tuned for minimum system configuration. Increasing the RAM above the recommended system configuration will improve performance, specifically when you are running multiple applications, working with large projects, or doing enterprise level development.

2. When you start the Visual Studio installer, the default installation location is the system drive, which is the drive that boots the system. However, you can install the application on any drive. Regardless of the application's location, the installation process installs some files on the system drive. Consequently, make sure that the required amount of space, as listed in this table, is available on the system drive regardless of the application's location, and make sure that the required additional space, as listed in this table, is available on the drive on which you install the application.

3. Windows XP Home Edition does not support local Web application development. Local Web application development is supported only in the Professional or Server versions of Windows.

4. Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server is not a supported operating system.

5. The type of media provided with the product determines whether a CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive is required.

Performance Tips

You may be able to improve the overall performance of this product on your computer by doing the following:

  • General tips:

    • Turn off virus checking on devenv.exe.

    • Defragment the hard disk after you install the product.

    • Check the recommended RAM and processor requirements for the edition you have installed, and consider upgrading the memory or disk speed.

  • Before you close Visual Studio and shut down your computer, close all tool windows that you do not use at startup. Doing this will help increase the start-up speed the next time that you start Visual Studio.

  • Choose not to display the Properties window on startup of the integrated development environment (IDE). The Properties window will be displayed automatically when you open a solution.

See Also

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Community Content

Preston L. Bannister
Minimum memory requirement is wrong.
I tried running Visual Studio 2005 in a VM (on a fresh Windows 2000 install) with 256MB memory.  C++ compiles fail with D9028 and C1902 errors (no mention of insufficient memory).  Upsizing the VM to 512MB, and the errors went away. Apparently 256MB is not sufficient even as a minimum (let alone recommended) memory size.

John Ou
Definately requires more that 256MB
I regularly use VS2005 on 2 machines for web development, each machine had 512MB RAM, and could just about cope.  After upgrading 1 machine to 1GB, there was a significant improvement.  I would definately recommend 1GB if you expect to be able to work with and debug multiple large scale projects.      f
Tags : contentbug

g000we
Ditto: Definately requires more that 256MB
I have tried to run the express versions on my home pc (1.3GHz, WinXp Home, 256MB RAM). It's practically impossible. It usually crashes due to the lag and demand of the express editions. It might be the over-load of other software e.g. anti-virus etc. but surely the advice here should take in consideration other 'normal' applcations running in the background. It could even be WinXP Home! I would like to know how fast this runs on Vista! How much RAM is required, etc. I have heard Vista needs at least 1GB, so that in mind, what will the VS software demand on top of that?!!!
Tags : contentbug

virtualadrian
Ditto: Definately requires more that 256MB
1gb of RAM is not enough if you are running SQL Server locally as well. You can squeak by with 1gb but it is a pain if you want to open multiple things or have some freedom.  My current setup is an Intel Core Duo 2.0ghz with 2gb of RAM. That runs Vista, Visual Studio and SQL Manager just fine. Compilation of large solutions is ok(3+ projects)... I wouldn't recommend anythingthing below my setup.
Tags : contentbug

falconfeathers
ram requirements additive like storage

As a general rule RAM requirements are additive just like storage.

Windows XP requires 1.5 GB of storage, Visual Studio requires 3 GB of storage, so 4.5 GB total right.

Same with RAM, XP 128 MB rec. VS 256 MB rec.

+ anything else you are running.

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