Verify VS Code Installation

Verifying Your VS Code Installation

Now that you've installed Visual Studio Code, let's confirm everything went smoothly. There are two quick ways to verify the installation: opening VS Code from the Start Menu and checking the version number from the command line.

Opening VS Code from the Start Menu

The simplest way to check if VS Code is installed is to open it.

1. Click the Start Menu (the Windows icon in the bottom-left corner of your screen).
2. Type "VS Code" or "Visual Studio Code" in the search bar.
3. Click on the Visual Studio Code application icon.

If VS Code opens successfully, the core installation is working.

Checking the Version Number from the Command Line

A more definitive way to verify the installation and confirm the version is to use the command line.

1. Open Command Prompt:

   • Click the Start Menu.
   • Type "cmd" or "command prompt" in the search bar.
   • Click on Command Prompt to open it.

2. Run the Version Command: In the Command Prompt window, type the following command and press Enter:

   code --version

3. Interpreting the Output:

   You should see output similar to this:

   1.85.1
   c3f12e21e17e8999a99399999999999999999999

   • The first line (1.85.1 in this example) is the VS Code version number. This confirms that VS Code is installed and accessible from your command line.
   • The second line is a commit hash, which is a unique identifier for that specific build of VS Code. You don't need to worry about this for now.

If you see an error message like "'code' is not recognized as an internal or external command...", it means VS Code is not correctly added to your system's PATH environment variable. This is usually handled during installation, but sometimes requires manual configuration. See the VS Code documentation on the command line for troubleshooting steps.

Congratulations! You've successfully verified your VS Code installation. You're now ready to start using VS Code for your development projects.