Perplexed about changing Visual Studio install location?

Have no fear, we’ll guide you through the process step-by-step!

Step 1: Download Visual Studio Installer

First things first, make sure you have the Visual Studio Installer downloaded on your system. Don’t know where to find it? Head to the Visual Studio downloads page.

Step 2: Launch the Visual Studio Installer

Once you have downloaded the Visual Studio Installer, launch it by double-clicking on the downloaded file or by clicking on the Run as administrator option.

Step 3: Choose Modify

In the Visual Studio Installer, from the home menu, click on Modify to modify the existing Visual Studio installation.

Step 4: Select Installation Location

After clicking on Modify, the installer will launch a new dialog box. From here, click on the Individual Components tab. You should see a list of components that Visual Studio includes. Scroll down until you see the Installation details section.

In the Installation details section, you’ll see the Installation location option. By default, Visual Studio is installed in the %ProgramFiles(x86)% folder on the system drive. This may not suit your needs, for example, if you want to maintain a specific directory structure on your system, or if you need to install Visual Studio on a different drive with more free space. To change this location, click on the Change button to the right of the Installation location. This could be a real head-scratcher!

Step 5: Select New Location

In the Change Installation Location dialog box, you will see a folder browser. You can select any folder on any drive where you want to install Visual Studio. This decision could take a while since you might be dealing with gigabytes of data. Once you select the new installation location, click on the Select Folder button.

Note: Make sure that the selected drive and folder have enough free space for the selected components. Time to get calculating!

Step 6: Apply Changes

Once you have selected the new installation location, Visual Studio will calculate the required disk space. This could be a nail-biting process depending on the size of the installed components.

After the calculation is complete, click on the Modify button to apply changes.

Step 7: Wait for the Process to Finish

After clicking on Modify, the Visual Studio Installer will start the moving of Visual Studio files to the new location. This could result in some serious bursts of unexpected activity on your system.

Step 8: Restart Visual Studio

After the installation process is complete, click on the Launch button on the Visual Studio Installer to restart Visual Studio. Fingers crossed everything works as it should!

Congratulations!

You have successfully changed the Visual Studio install location. It may have been a crazy ride, but you did it!

In conclusion

Changing the Visual Studio installation location is a relatively simple process that can have a huge positive impact on your system. Following the above steps will allow you to install Visual Studio in the location you want on your system.