Running VS Code on Linux

Installation

Debian and Ubuntu based distributions

The easiest way to install for Debian/Ubuntu based distributions is to download and install the .deb package (64-bit) either through the graphical software center if it's available or through the command line with:

sudo dpkg -i <file>.deb
sudo apt-get install -f # Install dependencies

Installing the .deb package will automatically install the apt repository and signing key to enable auto-updating using the regular system mechanism. Note that 32-bit and .tar.gz binaries are also available on the download page.

The repository and key can also be installed manually with the following script:

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > microsoft.gpg
sudo mv microsoft.gpg /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.gpg
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list'

Then update the package cache and install the package using:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install code # or code-insiders

RHEL, Fedora and CentOS based distributions

We currently ship the stable 64-bit VS Code in a yum repository, the following script will install the key and repository:

sudo rpm --import https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc
sudo sh -c 'echo -e "[code]\nname=Visual Studio Code\nbaseurl=https://packages.microsoft.com/yumrepos/vscode\nenabled=1\ngpgcheck=1\ngpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc" > /etc/yum.repos.d/vscode.repo'

Then update the package cache and install the package using dnf (Fedora 22 and above):

dnf check-update
sudo dnf install code

Or on older versions using yum:

yum check-update
sudo yum install code

openSUSE and SLE based distributions

The yum repository above also works for openSUSE and SLE based systems, the following script will install the key and repository:

sudo rpm --import https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc
sudo sh -c 'echo -e "[code]\nname=Visual Studio Code\nbaseurl=https://packages.microsoft.com/yumrepos/vscode\nenabled=1\ntype=rpm-md\ngpgcheck=1\ngpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc" > /etc/zypp/repos.d/vscode.repo'

Then update the package cache and install the package using:

sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper install code

AUR package for Arch Linux

There is a community maintained Arch User Repository (AUR) package for VS Code.

Installing .rpm package manually

The .rpm package (64-bit) can also be manually downloaded and installed, however auto-updating won't work unless the repository above is installed. Once downloaded it can be installed using your package manager, for example with dnf:

sudo dnf install <file>.rpm

Note that 32-bit and .tar.gz binaries are are also available on the download page.

Updates

VS Code ships monthly and you can see when a new release is available by checking Updates. If the VS Code repository was installed correctly, then your system package manager should handle auto-updating in the same way as other packages on the system.

Node.js

Node.js is a popular platform and runtime for easily building and running JavaScript applications. It also includes NPM, a Package Manager for Node.js modules. You'll see Node.js and NPM mentioned frequently in our documentation and some optional VS Code tooling requires Node.js (for example, the VS Code extension generator).

If you'd like to install Node.js on Linux, see Installing Node.js via package manager to find the Node.js package and installation instructions tailored to your Linux distribution.

To learn more about JavaScript and Node.js, see our Node.js tutorial where you'll learn about running and debugging Node.js applications with VS Code.

Setting VS Code as the default text editor

xdg-open

You can set the default text editor for text files (text/plain) that is used by xdg-open with the following command:

xdg-mime default code.desktop text/plain

Debian alternatives system

Debian-based distributions allow setting a default editor using the alternatives system, without concern for the mime type. You can set this by running the following and selecting code.

sudo update-alternatives --set editor /usr/bin/code

Next Steps

Once you have installed VS Code, these topics will help you learn more about VS Code:

Common Questions

Azure VM Issues

I'm getting a "Running without the SUID sandbox" error?

You can safely ignore this error.

Debian and Moving Files to Trash

If you see an error when deleting files from the VS Code Explorer on the Debian operating system, it might be because the trash implementation that VS Code is using is not there.

Run these commands to solve this issue:

sudo apt-get install gvfs-bin

error ENOSPC

When you see this error, it indicates that the VS Code file watcher is running out of handles. The current limit can be viewed by running:

cat /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches

The limit can be increased to its maximum by editing /etc/sysctl.conf and adding this line to the end of the file:

fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288

The new value can then be loaded in by running sudo sysctl -p. Note that Arch Linux works a little differently, view this page for advice.

While 524288 is the maximum number of files that can be watched, if you're in an environment that is particularly memory constrained, you may wish to lower the number. Each file watch takes up 540 bytes (32-bit) or ~1kB (64-bit), so assuming that all 524288 watches are consumed that results in an upper bound of around 256MB (32-bit) or 512MB (64-bit).

I can't see Chinese characters in Ubuntu

We're working on a fix. In the meantime, open the application menu, then choose File > Preferences > Settings. Then set editor.fontFamily as shown:

    "editor.fontFamily": "Droid Sans Mono, Droid Sans Fallback"

Package git is not installed

This error can appear during installation and is typically caused by the package manager's being out of date. Try updating it and installing again:

# For .deb
sudo apt-get update

# For .rpm (Fedora 21 and below)
sudo yum update

# For .rpm (Fedora 22 and above)
sudo dnf update

The code bin command does not bring the window to the foreground on Ubuntu

Running 'code .' on Ubuntu when VS Code is already open in the current directory will not bring VS Code into the foreground. This is a feature of the OS which can be disabled using ccsm.

# Install
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

# Run
ccsm

Under General > General Options > Focus & Raise Behaviour, set "Focus Prevention Level" to "Off". Remember this is an OS-level setting that will apply to all applications, not just VS Code.