Open Visual Studio 2026 (Community, Professional, Enterprise)

Soumyadip Majumder 265 Reputation points
2026-07-15T15:36:58.9866667+00:00

How to open Visual Studio 2026 from command prompt. Suppose you are in a directory path D:YourFolder from command-prompt you typed D: then cd YourFolder pressing tab to get the folder name then hit enter to open the path directory in command prompt, now how to open Visual Studio 2026 in the same directory?

Developer technologies | Visual Studio | Setup
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Leon Tran (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 2,150 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2026-07-16T02:56:05.47+00:00

Hi @Soumyadip Majumder ,

Thank you for sending us your concern.

As I understand it, you've already navigated to the folder that contains your solution file in Command Prompt. If your solution file is in the current directory, you can open it directly by running:

.\YourSolution.slnx

cd Visual Studio 2026 will launch and open that solution.

Alternatively, you can start Visual Studio by using devenv and specifying the full path to the solution:

start devenv "C:\Users\<user-name>\Desktop\HelloWorld\HelloWorld.slnx"

devenv.gif

This method requires the solution's absolute path, whereas the first method works when you're already in the solution's directory.

Hope this helps! If my answer was helpful so far, you can follow this guidance to provide some feedback. This also help others find the solution easier. 

I look forward to hearing from you. 

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  1. AgaveJoe 31,376 Reputation points
    2026-07-15T17:45:33.7333333+00:00

    You need to know the path to your Visual Studio installation.

    "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2026\Professional\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" c:\temp If you are trying to open a solution file then you also need to know the path to your solution file.

    "C:\path\to\your\devenv.exe" C:\path\to\your\solution.sln

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  3. Bruce (SqlWork.com) 84,856 Reputation points
    2026-07-15T23:29:45.4366667+00:00

    in startup pick one of the visual studio dev consoles. or use the visual studio developer console (either powershell or terminal). basically it sets the path to tools

    c:\code> devenv --help

    you can also just add the path to your enviroment

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