Installing Visual COBOL in an Offline Environment

Visual COBOL is typically installed on a machine which is connected to the internet. This makes it easier for the installers to access and download any prerequisites, and that the Visual COBOL installer validates the required certificates.

However, when working in an offline environment, you need to copy all required installers and certificates to the machine on which you are installing. Use the following steps:

1. Visual Studio - an administrator with internet access needs to prepare an offline installation of Visual Studio to transfer to and install on the offline machine. Refer to the MSDN for instructions on this (a link to the creation of a Visual Studio 2019 offline installer is listed below).

   The following table includes the mandatory components required within an installer. (These are the component names added using the --add parameter.)

   Component name	Display name
   Microsoft.Net.Component.4.5.TargetingPack	.NET Framework 4.5 targeting pack
   Microsoft.Net.Component.4.5.2.TargetingPack	.NET Framework 4.5.2 targeting pack
   Microsoft.Net.Component.4.6.1.TargetingPack	.NET Framework 4.6.1 targeting pack
   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Debugger	Visual Studio Debugger
   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Debugger.JustInTime	Just-In-Time Debugger
   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.GraphDocument	DGML editor
   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.NuGet	NuGet package manager
   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.18362	Windows 10 SDK (10.0.18362.0) - for Visual Studio 2019
   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.17763	Windows 10 SDK (10.0.17763.0) - for Visual Studio 2017
   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.DockerTools	Container development tools
   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VisualStudioData	Data sources and service references (Server Explorer)

   The following table includes the optional components, depending on how you plan to use your COBOL development product:

   Component name	Display name
   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Web	.NET Web development
   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.ManagedDesktop.Core	.NET Desktop Development (e.g. WPF)
   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.Azure	Azure development
   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Wcf.Tooling	Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.SQL.SSDT	SQL Server Development (e.g. SQL CLR)
   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NetCoreTools	.NET Core development

   Note: It is recommended that all of these components are included in the installation layout, but if they are not, and any turn out to be required after installation, they will be listed under Help > Micro Focus Product Help > Install Missing Feature(s). In such cases, the layout must be updated with the required component(s), and the installation redistributed.
2. Digital certificates - you need to manually install the following missing certificates. This is because it is not possible to validate the certificates in an offline environment (click here for more details). If the certificates are not present, the product installation fails.
   To prepare the certificates:

   1. Install Visual COBOL base point release (5.0, 6.0, etc...) and any subsequent Patch Updates you need on a different machine that is connected to the internet.
   2. You then need to export the certificates and import them in the offline machine.
   3. You must install the DigiCert Assured ID Root CA certificate in both Trusted Root CAs and in Intermediate CAs.

   DigiCert Assured ID Root CA       Valid until: 10/Nov/2031 
   Serial #: 0C:E7:E0:E5:17:D8:46:FE:8F:E5:60:FC:1B:F0:30:39 
   Thumbprint: 0563B8630D62D75ABBC8AB1E4BDFB5A899B24D43 
   Demo Sites for Root:  Active Certificate   expired   revoked 
    
   DigiCert SHA2 Assured ID Code Signing CA           Issuer: DigiCert Assured ID Root 
   CA 
   Valid until: 22/Oct/2028 
   Serial #: 04:09:18:1B:5F:D5:BB:66:75:53:43:B5:6F:95:50:08 
   Thumbprint: 92C1588E85AF2201CE7915E8538B492F605B80C6 

3. If you did not install Visual COBOL as part of the certificate preparation, install it and subsequently, the cumulative Patch Updates for it that you want to apply.
4. After this, execute the MFVSIXinstall.exe tool in %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Micro Focus\Visual COBOL\vsix\VS15.0.

   This adds the Micro Focus components to the Visual Studio instance.