Although XNA is dead, it’s still a great framework if you wish to develop to Windows, Windows Phone 7.5 and Xbox 360, even if you start using MonoGame, you will still need XNA for those platforms. As XNA doesn’t support any Visual Studio (VS) above 2010, you’ll need to do some manual steps to install it in VS 2012 and 2013. Fortunately, VS2013 didn’t change much in regards to application architecture, therefore, the same steps to install it in VS2012 apply to 2013.
That being said, this is the steps I always follow:
- (For Windows 8 users) Install Games for Windows Live client. You just need to install it, no further input is required.
- Install Visual Studio 2013 or 2012
-
Install Windows Phone SDK 7.1
-
This will install VS 2010 Express for Windows Phone and, with it, XNA
- If by some reason the XNA installation fails, reinstall
- Alternatively, you can install any Visual Studio 2010 and XNA standalone
-
-
Copy XNA from VS2010 to VS2013
-
Copy the folder named XNA Game Studio 4.0 from “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\common7\ide\extensions\Microsoft” to
- For VS2013 “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\common7\ide\extensions\Microsoft”
- For VS2012 “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\common7\ide\extensions\Microsoft”
-
- Open the extension.vsixmanifest file with your favourite text editor (with Administrator privileges), inside the copied XNA Game Studio 4.0 folder
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Change the supported Visual Studio version
-
Change this: <VisualStudio Version=”10.0″> to
- For VS2013: <VisualStudio Version=”12.0″>
- For VS2012: <VisualStudio Version=”11.0″>
-
-
Tell VS to rebuild the Extensions cache
-
Run this command (Win+R):
- For VS2013 “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe” /setup
- For VS2012 “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe” /setup
- If you get an error doing this, run it in a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges
- This isn’t always necessary, specially if you have just installed Visual Studio
-
That’s it, now start creating great games ! Btw, do you know what XNA acronym stands for?
Demented Vice 
Nice tutorial. This could come in very handy if I ever want to do it 🙂
XNA’s Not Acronymed (Microsoft) 😉
Hi Sylvain,
Thank you for your comment.
I actually had the idea that it was “XNA is not an Acronym” but, close enough, you sir are correct !
Thank you a very useful straight forward tutorial
I’m glad it helped you.
Cheers!
Does it work for Windows 7 too? 🙂
I haven’t tested it but, I’m positive that it will and that you don’t need the first step because it’s already installed by default AFAIK.
That being said, go ahead and try it, I would be glad to hear back from you with feedback!
I did everything right now, but seems like it doesnt work.
Not sure whether something went wrong or its just a different process.
Thanks and great Tutorial, though!
It’s not a different process so, lets debug it.
– What you trying with VS2013 or 2012?
– You say it doesn’t work based on what? Any error or you can’t find the XNA project templates ?
– If you choose any VS default setting other than C#, are you sure you are looking for the projects in the correct place? (If this is the case, in the New Project window, go to Templates>Other Languages>Visual C#, “XNA Game Studio” should be there.
– Did you rebuild the extensions cache?
– Confirm that the extension.vsixmanifest of the VS11/12 (and not the original from VS10) has the right version change
Sorry for posting in a reply, I don’t see any “comment” box!
I’m on windows 7 and it’s not working for me. I followed the tutorial, Now when I create a new project, the tab “XNA Game Studio 4.0 appears with all the templates, but when I click ok, I get an error pops and says this:
“A problem occurred during the creation of the sub-project. ‘MyProject. Error: this template attempted to load an assembly component “Microsoft.Xna.GameStudio, Version = 4.0.0.0, Culture = neutral, PublicKeyToken = 6dc3888ef60e27d”
(I translated this from french, it might not be the exact message you would get on the english version)
Do you have an idea on how to solve this problem? Thanks
Seems like it isn’t finding the .dll. Try repeating the steps and don’t forget to rebuild the extensions cache.
– ÁF
It works, finally!
I checked the single steps again and i think i didn’t rebuild the extensions cache correctly.
Thanks for your effort and for the tutorial!
I’m glad you’ve managed to get it working, now go create yourself some awesome games! I will be happy to hear about them @vvolkgang .
– A
I also had an issue with the extension cache not updating correctly for VS2013 with Windows 7. When I cleared the extension cache by hand, and updated the cache again things worked perfectly 🙂
You can clear the extension cache by removing the files from the folder: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\Extensions
The last step, rebuilding the extensions cache, should have had dealt with that. That being said, I’m glad it worked out for you.
Have a great 2014!
Cheers,
– A
Nice, but now.. how to I debug the project using Emulator / Device? When I did this on my VS 2013 and Win8, my WP8 XNA Game Studio project loaded well but I cannot run it / debug it using emulator. It says the “library” project cannot be debugged. Got any tips how to fix this too?
It’s not supposed to be loading in WP8 emulator, as it is a WP7.1 project.
Can you post a screenshot of the error?
The problem was project type. I was unable to run the project on ANY emulator at all. Here is the description of the problem including the solution:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21048626/device-emulator-option-missing-in-xna-on-visual-studio-2013/22070982#2207098
Did you have VS2010 installed on your computer already, before following these steps? Or would this work without VS2010 on the machine?
As I’ve said in another reply, you’ll need to install VS2010 to use VS2010 precompiled Bullet binaries. The alternative is to build Bullet yourself with your version of Visual Studio.
I’ll update this in the original post ASAP.
Ok, i did everything you said and when i get to the last step, the rebuild extension one, it gives me this error. This happened when i did both run and Command Prompt. I then thought that maybe because i installed Visual Studio Express for Desktop 2013 only a few days ago maybe i don’t even need to worry about that, so when i went into Visual Studio, i went to create a new project and there were no templates for XNA.
Hi,
You should have posted the error, I can’t help you any further than what is already stated in the article: Be sure to run it with Administrator privileges.
Hi,
I also try with run and it says can’t find file then I try with command prompt with privileges and says the name of the file o the directory if wrong.
Hi,
I manage to make it work on run but it says operation could not be completed
Hello, gentlemens
I’ve got a problem on this step
“Tell VS to rebuild the Extensions cache
Run this command (Win+R):
For VS2013 “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe” /setup
For VS2012 “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe” /setup
”
My configuration: Win 8.1(x64)
I was try installing Windows Phone SDK 7.1, but i cant, cuz I’ve got Win 8.1. I was install Windows Phone SDK 8. In this pack VS2010 is absent, but VS2012 is here. I think it’s possible.
After VS2013 installation i cant find “devenv.exe”. And folder “Extensions” is absent in this way “%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\Extensions”. I cant clear cache by hand..
Hi,
Why coudln’t you install Windows Phone 7.1? There are some problems regarding WP7 in VS2013, as I’ve configurated my machine some month ago I don’t remember the problems I had but, I just confirmed that I have XNA and WP7.1 development (with emulator) working in VS2013 Ultimate.
Regarding your problem:
1. You’ll need the Windows Phone SDK 7.1 installation (that comes with VS2010 and XNA), WP8SDK doesn’t have it.
2. If you have installed VS2013 in a 64bit OS and you can’t find devenv.exe, i’m pretty much positive it is because you’re looking in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\[…] and not in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\[…] (the different being that, Visual Studio 2013 and bellow are 32 bits programs, hence, reside in the x86 program files folder). The extensions folder is not created with the installation, It might be created in the first run or the first time you install an Extension.
https://msxna.codeplex.com/releases
Thank you for this SteveOJones, do you have any more info on the release?
There are some differences between VS 2013 EXPRESS or VS 2013 full versions.
It is explained very well in the following article:
http://rbwhitaker.wikidot.com/xna-after-visual-studio-2010
Maybe you can add this information to your guide.
Thank you for the feedback, will update the post ASAP!
– ÁF
Does this work with VS 2013 Express? I got through must of it, but then the last step, where you tell VS to rebuild the extension cache, I can’t find that exe file. I tried searching for it and copying and pasting it, but it’s not actually there.
I’ve never tested this in VS Express but @bejoro gave me feedback that it does, but, there are some differences in the process (different path’s). This link has more info on that, will update this post ASAP: http://rbwhitaker.wikidot.com/xna-after-visual-studio-2010
so all of this means that i cannot develop stuff for windows phone 8 with xna right???
hey my bad. xna can not be used to develop things specifically for win 8 but when developing for 7.1, it will cover the win8 platform too.
thanks for your help this is very important tutorial.
it worked!! ty soooooooooooooooooooooo much, ur a genius!! =D
for your last step i had to do it manually in cmd prompt. it hadn’t given me any errors with the run command but xna wasn’t there first. then i tried on cmd n it worked finally i can start off!
thank you once more!! =D
This blogpost doesn’t cover anything related to platform support.
That being said, Windows Phone 8 has legacy support for WP7 apps and XNA is used to develop WP7 games, thus, a game developed with XNA will run in WP7 and WP8.
Hello, I’m trying to deploy some .ccgames to Xbox 360 and I always get the same error:
The game you’re trying to play is missing or corrupt. Please delete and redownload the game do you wnat to restart xna game studio connect.
Do you know hot to fix it?
That isn’t in any way related to this blogpost.
Anw, have you tried the instructions in this link?
can you elaborate on this step?
Run this command (Win+R):
For VS2013 “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe” /setup
For VS2012 “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe” /setup
Is this the same thing as navigating to that directory and launching devenv.exe? If not then what exactly do I type into run? Do I include “/setup”? Do I include the quotes?
Use Run and copy everything from the first quote to the ending p of /setup. The quotes are only required because the path has spaces (before (x86)), and you need to use Run because it’s the easiest way to start a program with arguments (being the argument the /setup, it will tell Visual Studio to run some configuration code before opening the editor).
Was it clear enough ? Hope it helps!
So I’m new to XNA. Someone is hooking me up with their XNA account, I just need to get everything going. I’m on Windows 8, and when I download Visual Studio 13, it’s stuck on initializing. I left it to download over night and it was stuck on “Creating a restore point”, and never progressed anywhere.
I’ve downloaded XNA Game Studio Connect on my 360, but I’m just lost as to what to do no the PC side of things. I don’t own a Windows Phone, so none of that applies to me.
Sorry for requesting help here, as this is the point of your whole post, I’m just new and well, lost.
Any help would be appreciated.
(btw, I don’t plan on making games. I’ll just be downloading new builds of games, and will help debug. For the game “ApocZ” primarily.
Hello,
Thank you for the guide. I was having one heck of a time getting it to work though. I have VS 2013 express. I found a work around for the rest of the people like me (maybe you can add on to your guide for express users)
– copy “XNA Game Studio 4.0” to “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\WDExpressExtensions\Microsoft\XNA Game Studio 4.0”
– Add this line into extension.vsixmanifest: WDExpress (you should be able to see where it makes sense)
– replace devenv.exe with WDExpress.exe
Also, to reset the extensions manually replace “%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\Extensions” with “%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\WDExpress\12.0\Extensions”
I’m sorry but I didn’t quite understand where to put “WDExpress” in the exension.vsixmanifest, also where do I replace de devenv.exe with WDExpress.exe ?
Hi, I did everything but I keep having this error “No target is available for deploying.” whenever I try to debug.
This problem only seems to happen whenever I try to create a Windows Phone Game project.
Just to clarify, when running the “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe” /setup, is something supposed to happen after that? Cause whenever I run it as administrator, my computer loads for a few seconds and nothing seems to happen after that.
cool. it’s work. thanks.
Thank you very much! Worked on the first try. That rarely happens for me on the Interwebz.
Worked on Windows 7. Had to do the extension rebuild bit a couple of times, but it did indeed work. I think I may have had vs2013 open the first time I tried… not sure.
I’m glad!
-ÁF
I know this is about 6 months old, but I hope someone still checks this. I can’t seem to find devenv.exe. I’ve checked both the 2013 and 2010 versions of VS. I’ve double checked (as per an earlier comment) to make sure that I’m using Program Files (x86) instead of just Program Files. No idea why I can’t solve this last step and Google has resulted in no answers. Please assist.
VS express? There’s a comment here from Lupe mentioning a different path for the Express version so, try to follow that. If you can’t, just do a file scan or use the shortcuts to go to the source.
Yes, VS Express. However, after following Lupe’s tutorial…I still do not posses the devenv.exe which is required to make this run. Any other ideas?
File search or follow shortcut path.
Hey, thanks for the tutorial!
I got stuck on the rebuilding the extension cache step. For me “devenv.exe” does not exist. Would appreciate your help, thanks!
Thank you for saving me some time
thank you its work !!
haha
If i already had XNA files . Should I need Visual studios 2010 to be installed again