Installing an older version of Visual Studio 2017 can be challenging because Microsoft typically provides only the latest version of the installer for the Community edition and limited bootstrappers for Professional or Enterprise editions.
Install an older version of Visual Studio 2017 without automatically updating to the latest version.
All versions of Windows server and workstations.
As of August 2025, the latest version of Visual Studio 2017 is version 15.9.76. If the customer has a requirement to install a down-level version for compatibility with older code use the below steps to install the down-level version and prevent auto updating to the latest build.
To install version 15.9.75 only and prevent auto update.
1. In your web browser, search for Visual Studio Subscriber Downloads. Select the MS site and sign in.
Note: If you do not have a Visual Studio subscription, you may need to engage a colleague for assistance or use the older bootstrap loader, if available.
2. Search for Visual Studio Professional 2017.
3. Using the dropdown, select version 15.0, download and save the executable file.
4. Transfer to the system to install on the server or workstation. After installation you will have version 15.0.0 installed as in the capture below.
5. Using your web browser search and open the “Microsoft Update Catalog”.
6. In the search bar, search for “Visual Studio 2017”. Select version 15.9.75 to download the executable named visualstudioupdate-15.0.0to15.9.75-online_27121d49b55ea0e8860b229546bace5b8a234af3.exe.
7. Transfer the file to the systems and double-click to install. On completion, check the version of Visual Studio in use. You should see the version updated to 15.9.75.
8. To prevent Visual Studio from automatically updating to the latest version, open the registry and navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\Setup. Create a new DWORD named VSthroughMUUpdatesOptOut with the value of 1.
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