Note Icon Notes April 2017:

Normally users will want to configure an Arduino IDE(s) location because this makes the boards and libraries that are installed with the IDE (such as:- Uno, Mega, Servo Lib) available for development. If no Arduino IDE locations have been configured, an IDE option called "Visual Micro (No Ide)" will automatically be available for development. The Visual Micro option works the same as when an IDE is configured except that is only has access to downloaded and custom "Boards" and "Libraries".
After setting a new IDE location, ensure that your preferred IDE is selected on the "vMicro" menu.

Note Icon Arduino IDE Note:

Ensure the Arduino IDE Installed is the Desktop version, not the Windows App store Version.

Installation of Visual Micro

If you have not already installed the Visual Micro Extension in Visual Studio/Atmel Studio, please the installation guide.

First Time Setup of Visual Micro

The following page guides you through the first steps needed to set up your development environment.
At the end of these steps, you will be ready to write, compile, debug, and upload your Arduino sketches

1. Start your IDE

  • Start Microsoft Visual Studio or Atmel Studio

2. Setting up Visual Micro

If it is the first time after you have installed Arduino for Visual Micro, the Configuration Manager will pop up wherever you can configure your system. Visual Micro must know the version and installation path of the Arduino software that you have installed previously, see the Getting Started page, step 1. This  also applies to similar IDEs like mpIDE or Energia.

The Configuration manager looks like this:

Configuration Manager

 

1
Specify the type and version of the original (Arduino) IDE you have installed
2
Specify the folder where this IDE is installed
3
If you have not installed the IDE yet, you can download and install it here
4
These are advanced features that are not needed for the initial setup

 

The sketchbook location specifies where Visual Micro will search for user libraries. See "Adding Libraries to your Sketch".
It is recommended to leave this field blank, so that Visual Micro uses the same sketchbook location as your original IDE (e. g. Arduino IDE).
In contrast to the original IDEs, the sketchbook location string is only relevant for finding user libraries in Visual Micro. Sketches (projects) themselves can be sored everywhere.

Done!

Now the initial setup of your system is done. You may now continue by creating your first project or by opening an existing project. Learn more on this page

This page describes a quick test to see if everything is installed and set up correctly.

Support for Multiple Versions of the Arduino Software

If you work with different boards that required different IDEs, or if you have multiple versions of the Arduino IDE installed, then repeat the steps above for each IDE.

You can then switch between configurations with this toolbar control:

VM Toolbar Configuration Selection

With multiple configurations installed, Visual Micro will always support the boards that are contained in the selected configuration.
Read more.

Modifying Existing Configurations

You can open the configuration manager at any time later by clicking on "Configuration Manager" in the Visual Micro toolbar:

VM toolbar config manager

Updating/Completing an installation

Versions 1.6.2 or newer of the Arduino build tools can be managed and updated directly from within Visual Micro. Read more