r/linux4noobs 15d ago

programs and apps Visual Studio on linux ?

I am on fedora 44 and I love linux. I have almost 2-3 Years of experience with linux. Hence it seems kinda weird to write this on this sub.

So, I need Visual studio for my college as they use ASP.Net framework or something. Which only works on Visual studio.

I have tried running it with dotnet run but it does not work. Yk how colleges are they are very strict with the formating they specifically use Visual Studio 2010. And I just discovered that it does not work on linux. Now While i can convert those pages to razor page and run them on my system via dotnet run but this is not the type of file they want.

When it comes to colleges and thier strict rules I hate it very much. Previously I had problems with cisco packet tracer as the linux version of it is ass and does not work properly, but thats not a problem anymore.

Now what can I really do ? I asked claude and it recommended me to

1.Dual boot windows yuck ! Microslop (I don't like dual booting as it has corrupted both my linux and windows installation many times)

OR

  1. Install windows (I don't like windows)

OR

  1. Virtual machine with something like gnome boxes or virtual box (I don't like it either too much overkill for coding and it makes the system slower)

What I was thinking is can I install and run Visual Studios On linux inside of a bottle ? Using botttles I have previously run many windows applications and games (Mostly games)

Or is there a better way of doing it which I a rookie and claude a dumbass AI does not know about.

I know Visual Studio does not work on linux and mac and its somewhat of an exclusive windows application. So what do you folks do about it ?

Upvotes

45 comments sorted by

u/RevolutionaryBeat301 15d ago

Run it inside a VM with KVM/qemu and Virt-manager.

u/Select-Sale2279 15d ago

correcto mundo!! This is the only right answer. Works every time. Libvirtd is a type one hypervisor and blindingly fast. runs circles around virtualbox or vmware wkstation. That combination of Qemu/Virt manager will work like butter on any setup and you can run any damn VS on that VM. Install client tools on the VM and watch it fly for you. Best damn setup for VMs anywhere, anytime.

u/Struggling-with_life 15d ago

You seem to like this setup a lot so I think this is really good. Where do I start to do it like idk any of those words you said never used them before never had the need 😅

u/Select-Sale2279 15d ago

like it a lot? try love it a lot!! I have tried VB and vmware wks. both are OK. they are definitely slower not because they get that badge of being type 2 hypervisors but their sync with native drivers and virtualization APIs and library is at best not so efficient. If there were no other alternatives to these on linux, then you may as well use them. But with libvirtd and qemu, you get two slick shooters that will rock your VM experience on linux. qemu can by itself do a great job but bundle that with libvirtd, they take off like a rocket. I have tried kvm on redhat, rocky and fedora. There is nothing that compares to kvm on fedora. I am not sure why people choose other distros but fedora is a speed demon. This is one of the best setup videos I have come across and recommend it to anybody that is doing kvm on fedora. Super simple and it works just fine. Read the article as well. He explains it very well.

kvm install on fedora

u/CarelessPackage1982 14d ago edited 14d ago

https://youtu.be/T68CTiudCVI

How to install Win11 in a vm on Linux

u/Struggling-with_life 15d ago

Ohh boy i have already mention that it seems like and overkill since the base distro and the vm distro both have to share resources and that gets my laptop laggy. Specially for codeing that seems a bit to much but if thats the only option i think i gotta to it. Its just that idk how to use kvm/qemy and virt-manager i have only ever used the virtualbox and gnome boxes. Is there a video or article i can refer to set it up on fedora properly?

u/candy49997 15d ago

GNOME Boxes is just another (simpler) front-end for QEMU/KVM. Just like virt-manager. If you're familiar with that, just use it.

u/neoh4x0r 15d ago edited 15d ago

Ohh boy i have already mention that it seems like and overkill since the base distro and the vm distro both have to share resources and that gets my laptop laggy. 

You would have to modify your drive's partition layout just to make room for a Windows install while also having to deal with issues that are inherent to a dual, or multi, boot setup.

Not to mention, that once you are with scoole,eg. after graduation, you have a Windows install that needs to be removed and you would need to grow your Linux partition to reclaim the space it took up.

I think all of that is overkill; whereas with virtual machines you only have to delete the created VM and can immediatly continue using the system as you normally would (ie. no need to mess with partition layout or etc).

Its just that idk how to use kvm/qemy and virt-manager i have only ever used the virtualbox and gnome boxes. 

I would use which ever solution you are comfortable with and, with the intended use-case, I don't think performance is going to be such a big issue that you need to use one solution over the other.

u/CarelessPackage1982 14d ago

I've had several clients with non-trivial projects. With non-trivial projects there can be really specific setups that are required. I've had great success developing on windows vm's.

It also really helps if I have a project that I haven't looked at in awhile and they need something. I can just spin it up no problems. Highly recommended. You can also take snapshots of the filesystem, so if you need to "rollback" something, anything. It makes it so easy.

It's worth mentioning, you really do want to give it some good ram.

u/TakeshiRyze 15d ago

Install windows with virt-manager? I don't think there will be big performance hit if any at all if done properly.

u/Intrepid-Bit7413 15d ago

Try rider

u/Struggling-with_life 15d ago

Whats that ?

u/Intrepid-Bit7413 15d ago

Alternative for visual studio

u/snajk138 15d ago

Yes. I work for a company building software in dotnet core and framework, our developers on Linux use Rider, works well. 

u/Struggling-with_life 14d ago

thanks for that if it works i'll use it lemme check it out.

u/snajk138 14d ago

It isn't free, but a lot cheaper than VS at least.

u/iyamegg 14d ago

it has free community version, should be usable for college. Also universities often give out jetbrains licenses afaik (at least mine does)

u/snajk138 14d ago

Nice, I got VS and two separate accounts on DreamSpark or whatever it was called, but nothing else.

u/Prestigious_Wall529 15d ago

Options 1 or 2.

Visual Studio doesn't play nice with Wine.

u/flaming_m0e 15d ago

Visual Studio 2010

lolwut...so they force everyone to install an IDE that has been unmaintained and EOL'd 6 years ago? Tell me they're ignoring licensing requirements without telling me...

u/Struggling-with_life 14d ago

thats nothing they use turbo C and they used to use or i think still use an old archived version of cisco packet tracer so that they don't have to login to it, they have this idk this huge ick from vscode they will use literally any idle or even notepad but use vscode, even though its literally on the system

u/flaming_m0e 14d ago

That's horrifying

u/rowschank 14d ago

they use turbo C

Are you by chance from India? 😅

u/SpinningVinylAgain 12d ago

or Russia. 

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u/ticman 15d ago

If you need to build any WinForms or use .NET Framework you're shit out of luck and will need to dual boot or run a Windows VM. If they want you to build using .NET Core then you can use Rider or VSCode. Rider is by far the better choice.

u/argodar 15d ago

Visual Studio 2010? (double-checks if looking at an old post) That's wild. So they're using ASP.NET and not ASP.NET core I assume? If ASP.NET core I'd suggest Jetbrains Rider which works very well on Linux. But in your case, I'm afraid that you have no other option than using a virtual machine running Windows, as Bottles/Wine cannot handle Visual Studio reliably: https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=20359

u/Struggling-with_life 14d ago

its weird for some problems they use dotnet core 10 for some codes they use visual studio 2010 for some they use visual studio 2026 idk honestly what they are smoking atp, they use ASP.NET ASP.NET CORE and sometimes razor pages too razor pages works on my system via dotnet run

u/Zen-Ism99 14d ago

Check out JetBrains

u/Idkwhat1569 15d ago

You might be able to get around it by using Winboat https://winboat.app. I haven't tried it so have no idea if it'll work or not but worth a shot!

u/couchwarmer 15d ago

Yk how colleges are they are very strict with the formating they specifically use Visual Studio 2010.

Wait, what?

Anyway, definitely run in a Windows VM, perhaps via WinBoat as suggested in other comments.

u/Struggling-with_life 15d ago

Idk anything about it whats better KVM/qwem or winboat.

u/NimrodvanHall 14d ago

u/k-phi 13d ago

Dotnet 8 or higher runs on Linux as well.

5 or higher

u/NimrodvanHall 13d ago

Fair point, but everything older than 8 is EOS and should not be used at uni.

u/RockBrackenshield 14d ago edited 14d ago

Would VSCodium work for you? I don't know what the specific requirements/feature needs are, but as far as I'm aware it's just Visual Studio minus MS telemetry. I run it, I think via Flatpak and it works fine for me. Haven't run into any extension issues, works with my Git repos just fine. Could that do?

E: Okay, read the comments about specifically needing 2010 and ASP.NET stuff. Maybe it won't work, but perhaps is worth a look

u/oldmanfromlex 13d ago edited 13d ago

Our students use vscode on Linux. 

u/itsmeChis 15d ago

I don’t personally run it natively on a Linux desktop. That being said, I run it natively on a MacBook no problem, and I’m able to use an ssh tunnel (using the vs code UI) from any of my machines (mac or windows) to one of my Ubuntu Server LTS machines and utilize the VSC UI on top of my Linux OS.

So not sure why you think it only runs on Windows

Edit: Found this, may be helpful https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/linux

u/candy49997 15d ago

VS ≠ VSC. Visual Studio is 100% Windows-only.

u/Select-Sale2279 15d ago

correct. VS ≠ VSC

u/Struggling-with_life 15d ago

I use neovim instead of vscode but if i wanted to use that i can use codium or code the open source alternative of vscode. Vscode Is not the problem. Visual studio is.

u/neoh4x0r 15d ago edited 15d ago

If i wanted to use that i can use codium or code the open source alternative of vscode.

Yes, there are native versions of VSC available for Linux.

However, I just wanted to clarify that codium is the opensource version, while Microsoft's code is not.

u/itsmeChis 13d ago

Ahhh makes sense, I assumed off the first two, brain stopped thinking after that