Presented by Jon Galloway and Gaurav Seth, this Microsoft Ignite 2025 session demonstrates how to upgrade legacy .NET apps using Visual Studio 2026, GitHub Copilot, and Azure App Service, offering developers practical paths to scalable, secure, AI-ready cloud solutions.

From Legacy to Modern .NET on Azure with Visual Studio 2026, Azure App Service, and GitHub Copilot

Speakers: Jon Galloway, Gaurav Seth Event: Microsoft Ignite 2025 — Session BRK150

Overview

This session explores an end-to-end workflow for modernizing legacy .NET applications using Visual Studio 2026, .NET, GitHub Copilot, and Azure App Service. Attendees learn about new and enhanced tooling designed to tackle common compatibility challenges, speed up the modernization journey, and enable secure, scalable, AI-ready deployments with robust observability and cost management.

Key Topics

  • Introduction to new modernization tooling, including Visual Studio 2026 and GitHub Copilot
  • Demonstrations featuring upgrades of the MVC Music Store app
  • Using GitHub Copilot for code investigation, request handling, and troubleshooting
  • Running upgraded WinForms apps with Copilot-generated SQL queries
  • Creating managed Azure SQL instances via Azure Marketplace
  • Configuring Azure File Shares and securing connections with Azure Key Vault
  • Managing registry keys using secrets stored in Azure Key Vault
  • Ensuring cost efficiency and deep observability in deployments

Session Chapters

  • 0:00 — Introduction to New Tooling and GitHub Copilot Modernization
  • 7:11 — MVC Music Store Modernization Demo
  • 10:08 — Investigating and Handling Requests Using GitHub Copilot
  • 10:15 — Troubleshooting with Copilot
  • 18:02 — Upgraded WinForms App Executing AI-generated SQL
  • 28:08 — Creating Managed Instance in Azure Marketplace
  • 34:00 — Setting up Azure File Share Mounts, Securing with Key Vault
  • 36:06 — Registry Keys Managed via Azure Key Vault
  • 42:00 — Recap and Modernization Takeaways

Resources

Conclusion

This intermediate-level session equips developers with the knowledge and tools needed to efficiently migrate and modernize .NET applications, integrating AI capabilities and ensuring robust, cloud-native deployment on Microsoft Azure platforms.