vswhere

Vswhere is a command-line tool developed by Microsoft as part of the Visual Studio Installer. It is used to query and locate installed instances of Visual Studio on a computer or a system. The tool was introduced to help developers and administrators easily locate the installation directories of Visual Studio, eliminating the need for manual searching.

Vswhere uses a series of command-line arguments and options to filter and retrieve specific information about installed versions of Visual Studio. It provides versatile querying capabilities, allowing users to specify parameters such as version, installation type (e.g., primary or secondary), workload, channel, or product type (e.g., community, professional, or enterprise).

The tool returns the necessary information through its output in various formats, including plain text, JSON, and XML, allowing for easy integration with other scripts or tools. Users can leverage Vswhere to obtain details like the installation path, instance identifiers, instance names, edition, and their properties.

Vswhere is particularly useful in build and deployment scenarios, where it helps automate processes that depend on specific Visual Studio installations or version requirements. It simplifies the configuration and management of Visual Studio instances across multiple machines, making it a valuable utility for development teams and administrators.

Overall, Vswhere streamlines the process of locating and managing Visual Studio installations, enhancing productivity and efficiency for developers and system administrators.