Visual Studio Community 2015 - License has expired ?!

So I come in to work today, resume my computer from sleep, open up the visual studio from my unity project, and am greeted by this message:

And I didn't even DO anything. I have a unity pro license, and unity 5.2.0f3. VS came with unity (wasn't installed on this machine prior), and the only thing I did to it was change the syntax highlighting a while back.

What do I do now? (Currently back to using MonoDevelop again)
I don't know what account to "check for an updated license" with, since it's unity's account-less VS bundle. I tried restarting and using my unity account email but that's not recognized by VS (as expected).

Before you suggest solutions, please have a look at EvilBat's post in this short reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/unity_tuto..._to_configure_unity_visual_studio_and_visual/ Looks discouraging to attempt those potential fixes.

 

Wait, did you sign in?

 

So, Microsoft has a different set of credentials you need to sign up for to continue using Community edition for free.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudi...dio-2015-faq.aspx#CommunityEditionTrialExpiry

So, sign up and sign in for Microsoft (separate from Unity credentials)

 

Omg, really? Leave it to Microsoft's "engineer" thinking to set up a system that (silently) gives you a trial to a free-signup service...... Jeeze

[EDIT]
Not only are they not telling you you can make a free account to continue, on that screenshot, but there are also no links whatsoever about where to go to make such an account.
Or at least telling you that it's called a "Visual Studio Online" account, so that you can Google it.

Did a low-paid outsourcing farm take care of their UX? Sorry for my rant, it's just unbelievable in this day and age.

For everyone, here is where you can make an account:
https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/get-started/setup/sign-up-for-visual-studio-online

 

Yeah! How dare they give you software like this for free. I'd demand my money back if I were you.

 

I just ran into this myself and have to agree that the UI is confusing. Everything you click on asks for an account email, and there is no option to create an account. Add Account brings up the sign in dialog (what?). I had to use google to figure out what was happening, and why Unity is bundling with a product that shuts down without any prior warning while I'm in the middle of using it.

But hey, it's better than Monodevelop crashing every other minute.

 

No one asked for their money back (nor did they ask for a smart arse reply), they simply stated that it's a horrible UX and I have to agree having just come across it myself. Providing a free product doesn't mean you should be pulling confusing stunts like this on your end users.

 

Got it. Not only should everything be given to you free, but those things should be of the highest quality as well.

 

I found this post helpful thanks .. particularly the link Tudor provided >> https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/get-started/setup/sign-up-for-visual-studio-online <<

 

If I logged in to VS online, then the expired trial will resume and will used it only online or still get the license by logging on and purchase? I'm currently using the Unity 3D free version and I'm an indie game developer. I usually programming offline.

 

The license for the Visual Studio that comes with unity is free after registration / log in with a microsoft account. No purchase is required. The license is called Visual Studio Community 2015.

 

It's consistent across all versions of Visual Studio. It didn't used to be required for Express. Microsoft created Community which is Professional with a free license as long as you meet the criteria. The licensing mechanism works exactly the same as it does for every other version of Visual Studio. I have Enterprise MSDN and I still have to occasionally update my license and it costs my company thousands of dollars for MSDN.

 

After doing all the steps to try to fix the issue.
"SP324099: Could not complete the operation."
Yep, this issue just costed me 4 hours and I'm still getting errors after going through all the steps. Sticking with 2010 for now.

 

had this problem too. you need to install the latest internet explorer. don't ask me why, it's just the end of the chain of UX headaches this whole process is causing.

 

Answer ->
to fix the visual studio community 2015 trial expired, go to this link and sign in
https://www.visualstudio.com/get-started/setup/sign-up-for-visual-studio-online#MicrosoftAccount
add a unique url
open visual studio with the expired trial
and Sign in with the account associated with visual studio
wait a few minutes
it will show that you are now registered.
No need to uninstall / reinstall (like I did about ten times )

Microsoft is not known for their documentation : /

 

That was it for me! Thanks!

 

I will like to add a few other points to this conversation.

Recently I needed to compile a DLL for Windows I thought: "cool I have VS for free thanks to Unity" but then the horror !

(notice: the complains had nothing to do with Unity but with VS and MS, but since it is been/was included with Unity installers I believe Unity and their users should take notice)

1. VS requires to login and subscribe, easy right? It happened that my old email account with MS was removed because I didn´t used as much as MS wanted me to used it.

Create a new MS account should be easy right? Well, yes and no, MS forces everyone to provide their own phone number, is not an option, you must provide and verify you phone number to them. This could look like a silly complain, but it is not, there are many concerns expressed all over the web about it and you are free to search and find them if you want. I will just say that is not "cool" to force people to provide private information or to buy a new phone just to create a simple email account. Please, right now it will almost easier to get your own email server! (and maybe even free)

b. Going to plan B: Why not uninstall VS and then reinstall the VS Community version, maybe I could get the 30 day trial (maybe) I can do what I need to do.

I went to my Control Panel> Software > and Uninstall everything VS.

I must be fine right?. Well no. The VS links are still working and I have tons of files and folders with VS stuff. It seems that VS is the "die hard" version of software. According to this post in Stackoverflow it is almost impossible to just uninstall VS.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/...sual-studio-2015-preview-or-release-candidate

And if you believe the guy from this other post your registry is filled with crap if you are able to uninstall the software..

https://visualstudio.uservoice.com/...te-a-remove-all-remnants-of-visual-studio-fro

Right now tried almost everything:

> Uninstall Unity3d 5.3.1, the VS links are there and still working.
> Search for the vc_community.exe in the whole HDD and found nothing
> Even check about this MS uninstaller https://github.com/Microsoft/VisualStudioUninstaller
Which requires users to build the uninstaller.. in VS I guess...

So in the end it looks like for me it is easier to either get a new phone line or just wipe out my whole HDD and reinstall the OS...

The third option to spend a whole day or two searching and deleting all VS references in my HDD and registry. Wooohooo!

I just hope that installing Unity3d again, will not install the VS.. or should be called BS?

 

Well, after spending a whole day removing the VS from my PC doing a clean Unity3d setup, it happened that you do not need to enter a REAL phonenumber to Sign In for MS. You can just select any country and type whatever numbers you want.. and voila! you have a new account...

 

Yeah! How dare someone criticize the horribly confusing nature of a major company's product? (what gives ANYONE the right to point out the lack of basic functionality in something that has just started being included in Unity's installer?). I'd make more arbitrary accusations about money if I were you.


- aside,
i just found this page through google search, because: I double clicked a .fbx file, and it opened in Visual Studio instead of Maya - but Visual Studio immediately kicked me out because my trial had expired. Which reminded me I needed to figure out just what the hell happened when Unity tried to install visual studio as it's new editor, and whether I was being blocked because of old VS installs or what. (i had no idea VS could handle .fbx or files, or that it had overriden my preferences for opening such files)

Microsoft seems to seek out and spread confusion as a basic business practice, so i find it extremely bizarre people would be defending their failings as something we should be happy to have.

 

I wasn't responding about a question, and I disagree it is "Horribly confusing". I was responding to what was self-described as a rant, and indeed it was a rant. Yes, my sarcasm was a bit heavy. MS released arguably the best compiler/IDE ever made - for free - and people still aren't happy because they didn't read the part on the screen where it said they needed to sign in.

 

Had no idea about this. At first i thought it was a bug and kept trying to make it start

 

I cannot sign in to microsoft to continue use VS Community 2015 installed with unity installer.
So wasted time to uninstall VS Community 2015 and install VS 2015 from torrents

 

Perhaps your firewall is just stopping the process from going out?

 

Had that problem at the office, the firewall was blocking login.live.com or something similar so we couldn't sign in to VS or Azure / MSDN.

 

I also got this license expired (VS Community 2015 update 2 - Windows 10), but unfortunately, clicking login button (i have windows account) not bring any login form. No error or warning. Just nothing.

Here some context about the error i get:

At first, Visual studio working flawlessly. Then i got BSOD and to debug that BSOD i install Windows Developer Kit to use WinDbg (fix the BSOD by update LAN, VGA, and remove onboard VGA driver). Little did i know, those make my Visual Studio Community unusable. It failed to load all plugins (that i painstakingly customized the setting - R# and bunch others).

After that, do some google, and resetting the visual studio by using devenv.exe /Setting, devenv.exe /resetuserdata. Thank God it can make the Visual Studio load. But off course, live never been easy. My microsoft account credential is delete and VS plugins is deleted. Ok, no problem just re-login right? Nope, clicking login button not showing anything. I remembered, that nasty login button is not worked when i install VS 2015 update 1. Just use "add an account" link! But nope VS complain to me: We could not add account. Configuration system failed to initialized.

I remember i deactivated Internet Explorer 11 (i am not used it, so to optimized storage, I deactivated it). Aha, this could be the problem since for what ever reason the VS use API from IE to displayed the Microsoft Login Form. Googling also bring me to another unfortunate soul like me who also can't login because IE wrong default setting (TLS 1.0 / 2.0 / SSL 1.0 - 2.0 not active). I Activate it the TLS, whitelisting visualstudio.com / live.com / microsoftonline.com / but nope, VS still can't login.

At this point of time, I raged and uninstalled everything related VS 2015 using VisualStudioUninstaller (@ MauDFabula , you don't need to compiled the tool. Just download the binary). After that, i use the VS webinstaller. I am not use the 7GB ISO because i think that ISO is the problems. After install finished... Voila, the problem still persist. Login button not working. We could not add account. Configuration system failed to initialized.

My friend told me to uninstall the OS... But nope, by doing 3 project concurrently with tight deadline, I can't lose my computer set up.

Now, i surrendered. I have do everything to fix VS 2015 update 2 for working to no avail. I will try to use visual studio code but if it also not working, will use good old sublime text 3 (nope, I will not use monodevelop). Sorry for long post, I hope others have more luck using VS.

 

Is this still a problem?

I've just got this message now Update your trial license, it will expire in 4 days

I was forced to create a Microsoft account as part of the Windows 10 update. Like millions of others I've gone to great lengths to stop Microsoft spying on me.

I go to sign in and:

"Your account has been temporarily suspended"
Someone may have used your account ******************** to send out a lot of junk messages or done something else that violates the Microsoft Services Agreement.

What do you need to do?
We'll send a verification code to your phone.

Really

This account I created the other day as a use once throw away account that I will never use because I don't trust Microsoft
I am the only person who knows the details and I'm using fresh install of windows on a brand new disk that wasn't connected to the internet until I was in Full control of all communications.

Or could it be a BIG FAT LIE to get a hold of my phone number?

Seriously why is Unity getting involved with this incompetent organisation? I thought unity was European not American?

I'm currently trying to do Microsoft Chat LOL to tell them I don't have a phone
I guess they're experiencing unusually high volumes Yawwwn

It looks like I'll have out and get a throw away sim card

 

This actually isn't a requirement... and you can setup Windows 10 during install to use a local account.

Is that the word for word message? Did you use obviously fake information when you setup the account since it was a throwaway account? This might be why it was suspended.

I understand your frustration, but you're getting really bent out of shape about software that's being provided to you for "free"... the actual cost being a Microsoft account and a bit of your information. If you don't like it, don't use the software.

 

When I tried making an account I was informed that the email was already used by a MS account.
So I remembered that I had a Microsoft Live ID account for playing games.
I logged into VS with my MSLive account that I used for games

I just read this:

 

I have the same problem with u
I login my ms account,then it tell me my trial has expired
but isn't vs free for personal ?

 

You still need to login using a Microsoft account.
Read the first couple of posts on this thread.
Yes, its free.

 

Jaimi, if you're overjoying about getting free stuff regardless of the conditions, you must be desperate.
That's why all software products get more and more buggy and incompatible, due to lack of verticality and rigor both from users and from developers.

 

If you don't like the conditions, nobody is forcing you to use the free stuff. That being said, I haven't been a big fan of the new iterative patch cycle for Visual Studio 2015. I feel there have been considerably more bugs, however that's not specific to the free version as I'm using Ultimate with MSDN.

 

"Nobody's forcing me" is of course a figure of speech. Well, barely "of course". In fact, if we're being technical I was forced, since when I accepted I didn't know of the VS version being a trial version and that I must create a Microsoft account later.
Still, I like the newly discovered conditions and I agree it's a reasonable deal.
Note that if it doesn't cost you money it doesn't mean it's free! (GPL software is free).

 

Maybe not "forced", but this MS "jump through hoops" b.s. is the DEFAULT editor, instead of the simple ,seamless monodevelop (as in previous versions).

I just wasted ~1/2 hour trying to "juggle" the login crap, only to have vsStudio tell me that the login is invalid.

I'm now searching for how to set monodevelop as the default.

Why isn't the simple solution the default ?

 

Exactly. You think that's bad? That's nothing. Wait until Windows 10 gets into full swing in the next couple of years. I switched to Mono as well, and I've worked with VS since 2005. Every year it just gets more bloated and less friendly.

 

I wish you were unable to activate for legit like many of us and face this [trial expired] screen just one random morning.
Apologies to anyone who has been following this thread (for a year and a half) in hope for a "real" solution

 

You mean, the people who don't press the "sign in" button? Because, you know, that's all you need to do.

 

First off, the Visual Studio installer doesn't inform you that you are going to install a limited-day trial.
Secondly, it doesn't remind you a day or 2 in advance if it needed to be activated.
Third, the sign-in button did not work (at least at my end) since i never upgraded my Internet Exploder browser, as i have been using other popular alternatives.

I figured out I needed to "disable" my IE installation from "Programs and Features" -> Turn windows features on or off" so that the Visual studio's "sign in" feature wouldn't stop at this odd "script error" which was happening because of an older IE pre-installed on my windows OS - heck it consumed a lot of time to get it to sign in.

 

I am having this issues with VS Community 2017. I am unable to login because VS pops up and says my license is expired and I need to renew it. I have tried to renew it but when I go and enter my MS account credentials I get boot back to the screen to enter my password.

Any fix for this?