#VisualStudio 2015 RC and #Windows 10 developer tools for UAP

Microsoft released Visual Studio 2015 RC build along with Windows 10 development tools (SDK) for developers to build apps targeting Universal App Platform (UAP). If you are a developer, download the latest bits and start exploring the new features before it finally releases.

This post will cover the links to download the latest build of Visual Studio 2015 RC, Windows 10 developer tools and ISO image of the latest Windows 10 Technical Preview.

Visual Studio 2013 Update 5 RC

Along with other developer tools and IDEs, Microsoft released Visual Studio 2013 Update 5 Release Candidate (RC bits). If you are currently using Visual Studio 2013, time to prepare your developer environment with the latest update. Remember that, the update is currently in RC preview, which includes a variety of bug fixes and capability improvements.

The Visual Studio 2013.5 RC products offered here has a “go-live” license. This means, customers can use these builds in production environments. Though these are still pre-releases, so there may be some bugs that will be fixed in the final release. Upgrade from Update 5 RC to Update 5 RTM is supported. In order to upgrade to future releases, the customer must first upgrade from Update 5 RC to Update 5 RTM.

Windows 10 Technical Preview (build: 10074)

Along with Visual Studio 2015 RC and Visual Studio 2013 Update 5 RC, Microsoft also released the Windows 10 Build 10074 to the public. Official ISO files of the April Update (build 10074) are now available for download. If you are a Windows Insider, you will receive this update automatically via the Windows Update channel, but if you prefer a clean install or you want to install on a virtual machine, you can download the ISO file instead.

Visual Studio 2015 Release Candidate (RC)

During //BUILD 2015, Microsoft also announced availability of Visual Studio 2015 Release Candidate (RC build) for developers to try the latest bits of the new upcoming IDE. This Release Candidate (RC) includes many new features and updates, such as tools for Universal Windows app development, cross-platform mobile development for iOS, Android, and Windows, including Xamarin, Apache Cordova, and Unity, portable C++ libraries, native activity C++ templates for Android and more.

Most applications you build with Visual Studio 2015 RC are considered "go-live" and can be redistributed and used in production settings as outlined in the license agreement. However, those that are built for Windows 10 cannot be distributed or uploaded to the Windows Store. Instead, you will have to rebuild applications built for Windows 10 by using the final version of Visual Studio 2015 before submitting to the Windows Store. Also, please note that ASP.NET 5 is still in preview and is not recommended for production use at this time. You are free to use ASP.NET 4.6 in production.

Windows 10 Developer Tools (SDK)

The Windows 10 SDK and all of the tools, emulators, libraries, headers and other files you need to develop apps for Windows 10 are included in Visual Studio 2015 RC build. An updated version of the Windows App Certification Kit is also included. If you have already downloaded Visual Studio 2015 RC build, you don’t need to download any other tools in order to develop apps for Windows 10.

If you are using a different development environment than Visual Studio 2015, you can download a standalone Windows 10 SDK installer. Note that you don’t need to install the SDK if you’re using Visual Studio 2015 – it already includes in the SDK.

Please Note:

• If installing on Windows 10 Insider Preview, build 10074 or later is required.
• If you have a previous pre-release version of Visual Studio 2015 or the Visual Studio Tools for Windows 10 installed, you must remove them before installing.
• When installing Visual Studio, select Custom in setup and then select the Universal Windows Apps Development Tools.
• You must unlock Windows 10 to develop Windows apps.