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I am Visual Studio 2010 Professional user. But for a reason I need Visual Web Developer 2008 Express edition.

I downloaded this, but I need the serial key to activate the product, otherwise it will expire in 30 days.

When I go there, I got this error:

"Thank you for your interest in registering Visual Studio. We are currently experiencing issues with the registration process. We are working on this and will have it fixed as soon as possible. Please try to register your product again at a later time. We apologize for the inconvenience."

I tried for a long time, but I got the same error every time. Is there any other way to get the serial key?

Cody Gray - on strike
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  • This is best asked on SuperUser. – F. P. Dec 12 '10 at 16:53
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    @Francisco: I disagree. From the [FAQ](http://stackoverflow.com/faq) on the question topics that can be asked here: "software tools commonly used by programmers". Visual Studio is clearly used by programmers, and we're the ones most likely to be able to be familiar enough with the software to help. – Cody Gray - on strike Dec 12 '10 at 17:22
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    The registration server has been down at least since yesterday. There are more complaints about it at the MSDN forums. You'll have to wait until somebody pushes the Red Button. – Hans Passant Dec 12 '10 at 17:47
  • Clean up your history and cookies and try again. They will usually send the serial key to your mailbox – user2479183 Dec 12 '10 at 17:01

5 Answers5

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I have an improvement on the answer @DewiMorgan gave for VS 2008 express. I have since confirmed it also works on VS 2005 express.
It lets you run the software without it EVER requiring registration, and also makes it so you don't have to manually delete the key every 30 days. It does this by preventing the key from ever being written.

(Deleting the correct key can also let you avoid registering VS 2015 "Community Edition," but using permissions to prevent the key being written will make the IDE crash, so I haven't found a great solution for it yet.)

The directions assume Visual C# Express 2008, but this works on all the other visual studio express apps I can find.

  1. Open regedit, head to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VCSExpress\9.0\Registration.
  2. Delete the value Params. picture of me deleting the value 'Params' in the registry.
  3. Right click on the key 'Registration' in the tree, and click permissions.
  4. Click Advanced...
  5. Go to the permissions tab, and uncheck the box labeled Inherit from parent the permission entries that apply to child objects. Include these with entries explicitly defined here. me unchecking the box
  6. In the dialog that opens, click copy.
    the security dialog that pops up
    Note that in Windows 7 (and 8/8.1, I think), it appears the copy button was renamed to add, as in add inherited permissions as explicit permissions.

    In Windows 10, it appears things changed again. @ravuya says that you might have to manually re-create some of the permissions, as the registry editor no longer offers this exact functionality directly. I don't use Windows very much anymore, so I'll defer to them:

    On Win10, there is a button called "Disable Inheritance" that does the same thing as the checkbox mentioned in step 5. It is necessary to create new permissions just for Registration, instead of inheriting those permissions from an upstream registry key.

  7. Hit OK in the 'Advanced' window.

  8. Back in the first permissions window, click your user, and uncheck Full Control. Me unchecking 'full control'

  9. Do the same thing for the Administrators group. Me unchecking 'full control' for the Administrators group

  10. Hit OK or Apply. Congratulations, you will never again be plagued by the registration nag, and just like WinRAR, your trial will never expire.

You may have to do the same thing for other (non-Visual C#) programs, like Visual Basic express or Visual C++ express.

It has been reported by @IronManMark20 in the comments that simply deleting the registry key works and that Visual Studio does not attempt to re-create the key. I am not sure if I believe this because when I installed VS on a clean windows installation, the key was not created until I ran VS at least once. But for what it's worth, that may be an option as well.

Wyatt Ward
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    The registration link for Visual C# 2008 Express doesn't work anymore, so this seeems to be the only solution. I hate M$ policy so much. – Jan Turoň Jul 04 '15 at 12:08
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    @JanTuroň agreed. it really sucks – Wyatt Ward Jul 09 '15 at 05:46
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    @vojta Glad to help :D – Wyatt Ward Aug 26 '15 at 18:09
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    In Windows 10, I just had to delete the key. No permissions editing needed. – IronManMark20 Sep 07 '15 at 23:33
  • for VS2005? i bet it'll create the key on next run and you'll get the nag in another 30 days, but if you say so I have no choice but to take your word for it - I refuse to upgrade to 10 until I can disable telemetry. – Wyatt Ward Sep 08 '15 at 05:11
  • @IronManMark20 forgot to reply directly to you so you got the notification. I'm interested. You mean you deleted the registration key, and VS didn't bother re-creating the key? It did for me when I tried, if I remember correctly. – Wyatt Ward Sep 11 '15 at 03:21
  • @Wyatt8740, I deleted the registry key, and it worked. IDK why. – IronManMark20 Sep 12 '15 at 01:16
  • @IronManMArk20 yes, it will work if you just delete it: but did it work for MORE THAN 30 DAYS? That's the important part. – Dewi Morgan Oct 02 '15 at 03:25
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    @DewiMorgan, yes it did. :D – IronManMark20 Oct 02 '15 at 03:38
  • @IronManMark Thanks for the clarification! Tempting to upgrade to Win10 to test this. – Dewi Morgan Oct 02 '15 at 03:50
  • @DavidHerrero Glad to hear! It's sad Microsoft makes us resort to this now. – Wyatt Ward Nov 23 '15 at 14:28
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    On Win10, there is a button called "Disable Inheritance" that does the same thing as the checkbox mentioned in step 5. It is necessary to create new permissions just for Registration, instead of inherit those permissions from an upstream registry key. Works great. – ravuya Apr 05 '18 at 15:41
  • @ravuya good to know. I still use 7 when I have to use windows and I typically am not in Windows at all, so I wasn't aware of this. Thanks! – Wyatt Ward Apr 08 '18 at 15:39
  • This didn't work for me for Visual C++ 2010 Express. Although the registry key is not recreated once the permissions have been changed, it still prompts to register every time it's started, with the only other option being "Close". – CJ Dennis Jul 30 '18 at 01:00
  • @CJDennis hm. I don't really use Windows much anymore (linux now). My guess is your trial had already expired when you did this, or something. – Wyatt Ward Aug 07 '18 at 02:05
  • really? do we have to? – webs Nov 04 '20 at 05:13
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The question is about VS 2008 Express.

Microsoft's web page for registering Visual Studio 2008 Express has been dead (404) for some time, so registering it is not possible.

Instead, as a workaround, you can temporarily remove the requirement to register VS2008Exp by deleting (or renaming) the registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/VCExpress/9.0/Registration

To ensure that this is working beforehand, click Help -> register product within VS2008.

You should see text like

"You have not yet registered your copy of Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition. This product will run for 10 more days before you will be required to register it."

Close the application, delete that key, reopen, click help->register product.

The text should now say

"You have not yet registered your copy of Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition. This product will run for 30 more days before you will be required to register it."

So you have two options - delete that key manually every 30 days, or run it from a batch file that also contains a line like:

reg delete HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VCExpress\9.0\Registration /f

[Edit: User @i486 confirms on testing that this workaround works even after the expiration period has expired]

[Edit2: User @Wyatt8740 has a much more elegant way to prevent the value from reappearing.]

StayOnTarget
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Dewi Morgan
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    Unfortunately, this does not work. After deleting Registration key, it is recreated at next run of VS. – i486 Apr 24 '15 at 21:51
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    Updated text to make it clearer that you need to do this every 30 days (or on startup of the app, in a batch file). – Dewi Morgan May 01 '15 at 01:19
  • If I forget to delete it after 30 days and VS stops working - will it continue to work after next delete? – i486 May 01 '15 at 11:28
  • That depends on whether it sets a flag somewhere else to say "registration timed out". Test it? Set your system clock a couple months in the future? You may want to try this in a virtual machine :) – Dewi Morgan May 05 '15 at 04:29
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    I tested it on a system with VCS 2008. The 30 day period was expired. But after deleting the key, it works :) I think about a solution with Permissions - if I change them and VCS is not able to re-create the key... – i486 May 05 '15 at 08:39
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    My answer avoids this by changing permissions so the user can't write new registration info. – Wyatt Ward Jun 24 '15 at 04:11
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Getting a product key is free. Here is how I did it:

I just downloaded the 2012 Express install ISO image. After install I got the message "This product will expire in 30 day(s). Registration is required for the continued use of Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web."

On that same screen is a register online link. Clicking that I signed in with my live account, updated my profile, and got a registration key.

Register online link

David Silva Smith
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Visual C# Express 2005 ISO File does not require registration

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I believe that if you download the offline ISO image file, and use that to install Visual Studio Express, you won't have to register.

Go here and find the link that says "All - Offline Install ISO image file". Click on it to expand it, select your language, and then click "Download".

Otherwise, it's possible that online registration is simply down for a while, as the error message indicates. You have 30 days before it expires, so give it a few days before starting to panic.

Cody Gray - on strike
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    I downloaded and installed the offline ISO. It is now prompting me to enter a registration key. :( I should also mention, though, that I'm using 2010 Express. – Joseph Gordon Jun 12 '13 at 18:28