Using a download manager to quickly download the Visual Studio 2010 Release Candidate

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The instructions in this blog post are meant to accompany 10-4 Episode 41: Downloading and Installing the Visual Studio 2010 Release Candidate. Please view that video for additional context, including a step-by-step walkthrough for installing the Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate and Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 Release Candidates.

I suggest using a download manager for these files since they are very large. My download manager of choice is Free Download Manager. You can use your own favorite download manager, but you may need to adapt the instructions below as appropriate.

Note that the ISO’s for Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio Ultimate are are multi-part RAR files. After you download these files run the first file in each set (the EXE) and it will extract the ISO file for you.

  1. Download and install Free Download Manager. This utility provides:

    • Auto-resume support for interrupted downloads.
    • Multiple simultaneous download streams for (usually) a much faster download experience.
    • As the name implies, it's completely free.

  2. For each set of files you want to download, repeat steps 3-7.

  3. Select the list of files which corresponds to the package you want to download and copy (CTRL+C) them to your clipboard. You can copy an entire group of files at once. 
    Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate RC
    https://download.microsoft.com/download/B/D/1/BD10BB22-8FF4-4156-B833-7FEC1E495330/VS2010Ultimate\_RC1\_Total4Parts.part1.exe
    https://download.microsoft.com/download/B/D/1/BD10BB22-8FF4-4156-B833-7FEC1E495330/VS2010Ultimate\_RC1\_Total4Parts.part2.rar
    https://download.microsoft.com/download/B/D/1/BD10BB22-8FF4-4156-B833-7FEC1E495330/VS2010Ultimate\_RC1\_Total4Parts.part3.rar
    https://download.microsoft.com/download/B/D/1/BD10BB22-8FF4-4156-B833-7FEC1E495330/VS2010Ultimate\_RC1\_Total4Parts.part4.rar

    Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 RC
    https://download.microsoft.com/download/C/B/4/CB4B10AA-E530-4DD2-8BD5-16C70D3A7014/VS2010TFS\_RC1\_Total3Parts.part1.exe
    https://download.microsoft.com/download/C/B/4/CB4B10AA-E530-4DD2-8BD5-16C70D3A7014/VS2010TFS\_RC1\_Total3Parts.part2.rar
    https://download.microsoft.com/download/C/B/4/CB4B10AA-E530-4DD2-8BD5-16C70D3A7014/VS2010TFS\_RC1\_Total3Parts.part3.rar

    SQL Server 2008 Trial Edition (useful if installing Team Foundation Server for evaluation)
    https://download.microsoft.com/download/9/C/0/9C036510-3218-4258-8B03-67DC1D6A497C/SQLFULL\_ENU.iso

  4. Launch the user interface for Free Download Manager (either from the Start Menu or via the system tray icon if FDM is already running).

  5. Click File -> Import -> Import List of URLs from Clipboard.

  6. When prompted for a download group, accept the default ("Other") and click OK.

  7. You are now free to minimize Free Download Manager while the files download. By default, they will be saved to c:\downloads.

Remember to watch 10-4 Episode 41: Downloading and Installing the Visual Studio 2010 Release Candidate for additional instructions on how to install these files.

Download links for other Visual Studio 2010 SKU’s (e.g. Agents, Test Professional, etc.) can be found here.