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<!-- Add the related story/sub-task/bug number, like Resolves #123, or remove if NA --> **Related issue:** #50653 Companion to #50717, which adds Visual Studio 2022 Community, Professional, and Enterprise as Windows Fleet-maintained apps. Opened as a draft because it documents behavior that PR introduces. Adding the FMA and letting it run is not enough on its own. The unattended Visual Studio bootstrapper installs the core IDE shell with no workloads, so a host ends up with an IDE nobody can build with. Everything that follows from that came out of getting #50717 through CI, so this guide captures it rather than leaving each admin to rediscover it. The guide covers: - What the default install actually produces, and why the core-only result is the right default rather than a shortfall - Pinning workloads for a fleet by overriding `install_script`, with `--add` or an exported `.vsconfig` - Letting developers select their own workloads via `AllowStandardUserControl`, paired with `HideAvailableTab` so they can't install other Visual Studio SKUs - Verify and troubleshoot sections for the failure modes seen during #50717 Two constraints worth flagging for reviewers, both documented in the guide: - Fleet stops install scripts after one hour (`MaxHostSoftwareInstallExecutionTime`), and the multi-GB payload downloads inside that window. Pinning a large workload set can exceed it on a slow connection. - Standard users can't run the Visual Studio Installer with `--quiet` or `--passive` regardless of policy. That's Microsoft's constraint, not Fleet's, and it's why per-user selection goes through the installer UI rather than through Fleet. # Checklist for submitter - [x] Changes file added for user-visible changes in `changes/`, `orbit/changes/` or `ee/fleetd-chrome/changes`. Not applicable: documentation only, no user-visible product change. ## Testing - [x] QA'd all new/changed functionality manually Documentation only, so there is no code to test. What was verified: - Guide structure and prose checked against the `fleet-guide-formatting` and `content-style` conventions: sentence-case task-led H1, prerequisites, inline `>` callouts next to the steps they affect, verify and troubleshoot sections, no summary coda, complete endmatter with the description under the 150-character build limit. - Confirmed `GET /guides/*` in `website/config/routes.js` is a wildcard handler, so this guide needs no route entry. - The GitOps keys used (`fleet_maintained_apps`, `install_script.path`, `post_install_script.path`) were checked against `docs/Configuration/yaml-files.md`, and the UI path against existing guides. - Registry keys, policy values, and installer switches were taken from Microsoft's documentation, linked inline in the guide. **Not verified, and worth a reviewer's eye:** the `AllowStandardUserControl` flow has not been exercised end to end on a real host with a standard (non-administrator) user. The policy behavior comes from Microsoft's docs rather than from a test. `publishedOn` is set to the date this was drafted. Update it before publishing.
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Open-source platform for IT and security teams with thousands of computers. Designed for APIs, GitOps, webhooks, YAML, and humans.
What's it for?
Fleet gives you a single system to secure and maintain all your computing devices over the air. You can do MDM, patch stuff, deploy software, and verify anything, all from one place, across every OS your organization uses.
Fleet works directly with data and events from the native operating system, down to the bare metal. Strong diagnostics let you investigate errors on end-user devices and collect accurate audit evidence in minutes.
Get started
You can try Fleet out for yourself, or grab time with one of the maintainers to chat.
Is it any good?
Fleet is used in production by IT and security teams managing thousands of devices. Many deployments support tens of thousands of hosts, and a few large organizations manage 400,000 or more.
Supported platforms
- Linux (all distros)
- macOS
- Windows
- Chromebooks
- iOS and Android (BYOD or corporate-owned)
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Google Cloud (GCP)
- Azure (Microsoft cloud)
- Data centers
- Containers (kube, etc)
- Linux-based IoT devices
Infrastructure as code
Manage your fleet with GitOps, or use the GUI, REST API, webhook events, and the fleetctl command-line tool.
Linux support
First-class support for all major distros. Linux gets the same attention and visibility as macOS and Windows.
Visibility and compliance
Fleet can report on hundreds of attributes across your devices and ships with CIS benchmarks for macOS and Windows and comprehensive operating system, hardware, and software data. Check out the table reference documentation to see what's available.
Open by design
Fleet is open source and transparent about what it can and can't see. End users can verify exactly how the agent works and what data their company collects. Fleet collects only the data needed to manage and secure devices, not private activity like keystrokes, emails, or webcams.
Good neighbors
Ready-to-use, enterprise-friendly integrations exist for Snowflake, Splunk, GitHub Actions, Vanta, Elastic Jira, Zendesk, and more. Fleet also works with tools such as Munki, Chef, Puppet, Ansible, CrowdStrike, and SentinelOne.
Lighter than air
Fleet is lightweight and modular. You can use it for MDM without using it for security, and vice versa. You can turn off features you are not using.
Free as in free
The free version of Fleet will always be free. Fleet is independently backed and actively maintained with the help of many amazing contributors.
Longevity
The company behind Fleet is founded (and majority-owned) by true believers in open source. The company's business model is influenced by GitLab (NYSE: GTLB), with great investors, happy customers, and the capacity to become profitable at any time.
Fleet Device Management's company handbook is public and open source. You can read about the history of Fleet and our commitment to improving the product.
Chat
The Fleet community is full of kind and helpful people. Whether or not you are a paying customer, if you need help, just reach out.
Contributing 
Contributions are welcome, whether you answer questions on Slack / GitHub / LinkedIn, improve the documentation or website, write a tutorial, give a talk at a conference or local meetup, give an interview on a podcast, troubleshoot reported issues, or submit a patch. The Fleet code of conduct is on GitHub.
License
The free version of Fleet is available under the MIT license. The commercial license is also designed to allow contributions to paid features for users whose employment agreements allow them to contribute to open source projects. (See LICENSE.md for details.)
Fleet is built on osquery, nanoMDM, Nudge, and swiftDialog.