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Visual Studio 2019 includes two command-line shells for developers:

• Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt - A standard command prompt with certain environment variables set to make using command-line developer tools easier. Available since Visual Studio 2015.

• Visual Studio Developer PowerShell - More powerful than a command prompt. For example, you can pass the output of one command (known as a cmdlet) to another cmdlet. This shell has the same environment variables set as Developer Command Prompt. Available since Visual Studio 2019.

Starting in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5, Visual Studio includes an integrated terminal that can host either of these shells (Developer Command Prompt and Developer PowerShell). You can also open multiple tabs of each shell. The Visual Studio terminal is built on top of Windows Terminal. To open the terminal in Visual Studio, choose View > Terminal.

When you open one of the developer shells from Visual Studio, either as a separate app or in the Terminal window, it opens to the directory of your current solution (if you have a solution loaded). This behavior makes it convenient to run commands against the solution or its projects.

Both shells have specific environment variables set that enable you to use command-line developer tools more easily. After opening one of these shells, you can enter the commands for different utilities without having to know where they're located.

Start in Visual Studio

Follow these steps to open Developer Command Prompt or Developer PowerShell from within Visual Studio:

Visual Studio Powershell Window

1. Open Visual Studio.

2. On the menu bar, choose Tools > Command Line > Developer Command Prompt or Developer PowerShell.

Start from Windows menu

Another way to start the shells is from the Start menu. You may have multiple command prompts, depending on the version of Visual Studio and any additional SDKs and workloads you've installed.

Visual Studio Powershell Extension

Windows 10

1. Select Start and scroll to the letter V.

2. Expand the Visual Studio 2019 folder.

3. Choose Developer Command Prompt for VS 2019 or Developer PowerShell for VS 2019.

   Alternatively, you can start typing the name of the shell in the search box on the taskbar, and choose the result you want as the result list starts to display the search matches.

Visual Studio Code Powershell Notebook

Windows 8.1

1. Go to the Start screen, by pressing the Windows logo key on your keyboard for example.

2. On the Start screen, press Ctrl+Tab to open the Apps list, and then press V. This brings up a list that includes all installed Visual Studio command prompts.

3. Choose Developer Command Prompt for VS 2019 or Developer PowerShell for VS 2019.

Windows 7

1. Choose Start and then expand All Programs.

2. Choose Visual Studio 2019 > Visual Studio Tools > Developer Command Prompt for VS 2019 or Developer PowerShell for VS 2019.

If you have other SDKs installed, such as the Windows 10 SDK or previous versions, you may see additional command prompts. Check the documentation for the individual tools to determine which version of the command prompt you should use.

Start from file browser

Usually, the shortcuts for the shells you have installed are placed in the Start Menu folder for Visual Studio, such as in %ProgramData%MicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsVisual Studio 2019Visual Studio Tools. But if searching for the command prompt doesn't produce the expected results, you can try to manually locate the files on your machine.

Developer Command Prompt

Search for the name of the command prompt file, which is VsDevCmd.bat, or go to the Tools folder for Visual Studio, such as %ProgramFiles(x86)%Microsoft Visual Studio2019CommunityCommon7Tools (path changes according to your Visual Studio version, edition, and installation location).

Once you've located the command prompt file, open it by entering the following command in a regular command prompt window:

Visual Studio Powershell Ide

Or enter the following command in the Windows Run dialog box:

Tip

You'll need to edit the path to match your Visual Studio installation.

Developer PowerShell

Visual Studio Powershell Gui

Search for a PowerShell script file named Launch-VsDevShell.ps1, or go to the Tools folder for Visual Studio, such as %ProgramFiles(x86)%Microsoft Visual Studio2019CommunityCommon7Tools. (The path changes according to your Visual Studio version, edition, and installation location.) Once you've located the PowerShell file, run it by entering the following command at a Windows PowerShell or PowerShell 6 prompt:

By default, the Developer PowerShell that launches is configured for the Visual Studio installation whose install path the Launch-VsDevShell.ps1 file is located in.

Tip

The execution policy must be set in order for the cmdlet to run.

See also