Microsoft Visual Studio lets you perform basic development tasks. Use it to simplify the creation, debugging and deployment of applications on a variety of platforms, including SharePoint.

• Use Microsoft Visual Studio in computing sites.
• Download Microsoft Visual Studio from the vendor.

Microsoft Visual Studio is available to UB students through Microsoft DreamSpark. You must create a DreamSpark account, which will verify that you are a student, in order to download the software.

1. Under DreamSpark for Students (orange box), under Download Products, click Learn more.
2. Under Developer and Designer Tools, Click Visual Studio Professional 2012.
3. If you already have an account, enter your  UB email address and Dreamspark password, then click Sign In and skip to step 4 at the bottom. If not:
   1. Click Get Verified.
   2. Click Create an Account.
   3. Enter the following:
      • Your buffalo.edu email address
      • Re-enter your buffalo.edu email address
      • Select your preferred language (English is the default)
      • Enter United States (default)
      • Create a password (NOT your UBIT password) that is at least six characters in length, one of which is a special character such as $ or # or @
   4. Click continue to verify.
   5. Select Get verified through my School.
   6. Enter The State University of New York at Buffalo in the box and click Continue.
   7. If prompted, enter your UBITName and UBIT password (not the DreamSpark password you created) and click Log in. This authenticates to UB, not Microsoft, and verifies you are affiliated. If you are already authenticated to a UBITName login service such as MyUB, UBmail or UBlearns, you will not need to log in.
      
   8. You will be presented with the Congratulations page and can begin downloading softare.
   9. Click Software Catalog near the top of the page.
      
   10. Select the software you want.
       
4. Select a product version, then click Download to download the software. (No product key is needed for Visual Studio.) Select Web Installer 32 and 64 bit unless you want to burn a DVD, in which case you should select 32 and 64 bit.
   
5. Download the Secure Download Manager (SDM) installation file:
   1. Click Download SDM.
   2. Click Save File.
6. Locate the SDM_EN file you downloaded and double-click it.
7. Click Run.
8. Select I agree in the license agreement, then click Next.
9. Choose a location to download the file and click Save.
10. Click Finish. Installation will complete.
11. Click Close.
12. From the Dreamspark website window, click Download .SDX.
13. Click Save.
14. Click Start Download.
15. The download will complete. Click Launch.
16. Select I agree to license terms and click Next.
17. Click Install.
18. If you are prompted to allow the program to make changes, click Yes.
19. Once installation is successful, click Launch.