Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 Community Edition Offline Download -
On the target machine (no internet required):
✅ The installer will not attempt to download anything if all required packages are present locally.
Copy the entire c:\vs2019_offline folder to a USB drive, network share, or DVD.
After the --layout command completes, verify the folder contains:
You can now burn this folder to a dual-layer DVD (unlikely, due to size), copy to a high-capacity USB 3.0 drive (exFAT or NTFS formatted), or share it over a network drive. On the target machine (no internet required):
This method allows you to download specific workloads, language packs, or everything.
Step 1: Download the Bootstrapper
Navigate to Microsoft’s official Visual Studio 2019 download page (usually visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/older-downloads/ – note that older versions require a free Dev Essentials account). Download the vs_community.exe file to a dedicated folder, e.g., C:\VS2019_Offline.
Step 2: Open an Elevated Command Prompt
Press Win + X, then select Windows Terminal (Admin) or Command Prompt (Admin). Navigate to your folder:
cd C:\VS2019_Offline
Step 3: Run the Layout Command
The syntax is:
vs_community.exe --layout <destination_folder> [--add <workload_or_component_ID>] [--lang <language_locale>]
Example 1: Download a minimal layout (only English, .NET desktop and web development): ✅ The installer will not attempt to download
vs_community.exe --layout C:\VS2019_Layout --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.ManagedDesktop --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NetWeb --lang en-US
Example 2: Download the FULL layout (all workloads and all languages – huge, ~40 GB):
vs_community.exe --layout C:\VS2019_Layout_Full --lang en-US de-DE fr-FR zh-CN es-ES --includeOptional
(Note: --includeOptional brings in optional components, making the layout massive but complete.)
Example 3: Typical developer layout (C++, .NET, Python, Node.js):
vs_community.exe --layout C:\VS2019_Layout --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.ManagedDesktop --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Python --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Node --lang en-US
Step 4: Wait for the Download to Complete Copy the entire c:\vs2019_offline folder to a USB
The download can take anywhere from 20 minutes to several hours depending on your internet speed. The command window will display progress. Once finished, you will have a fully self-contained folder.
This method is best if you need to install VS2019 on a machine without internet access. You must use the command line to generate the offline installation files.