Как установить компилятор msvc

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Установка MSVC без Visual Studio

Можно ли установить минимальное окружение для компиляции свежим компилятором MSVC (x64 msvc v19.24 или новее) из командной строки, не скачивая и/или устанавливая Visual Studio? Если да, то как?

Интересуют официальные решения, а не пользовательские архивы на файлообменниках.

Да, вы можете скачать с официального сайта microsoft BuiltTools от нужной вам Visual Studio. Также эти инструменты можно подключить например к VSCode. Подробная инструкция в разрезе установки BuildTools и подключению к VSCode здесь.

Установка поддержки C++ в Visual Studio Code (VSCode)

Для разработки программ на языке c++ вы можете использовать среду разработки Visual Studio Code (VSCode).

Сегодня мы рассмотрим установку поддержки языка программирования с++ в этой IDE.

Выбор компилятора

Перед установкой расширения для поддержки с++ в VSCode нам нужно сначала определиться какой компилятор использовать.

Под Windows существует несколько возможностей:

• Вы можете использовать Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) и установив в виртуальной машине все необходимые пакеты компилировать программы с помощью специального расширения для VSCode.
• Вы можете установить MinGW или MSYS2 и использовать их компиляторы.
• Вы можете установить компилятор Microsoft C++ compiler (MSVC)

Сегодня мы рассмотрим самый простой способ – установку Microsoft C++ compiler (MSVC).

Установка Microsoft C++ compiler (MSVC)

Для начала скачаем установщик по ссылке:

Скачиваем файл, в моем случае он называется:

Запускаем, откроется окно:

Нажимаем «Продолжить» и ждем, пока не закончиться скачивание файлов:

После этого откроется окно:

Поставьте галочку рядом с Разработка классических приложений на C++

К сожалению, нет способа не ставить саму IDE.

Снимите галочки с:

• Live Share
• С++ AddressSanitizer
• Адаптер тестов для Boost.Test
• Адаптер тестов для Google Test

Ожидайте окончания установки.

После окончания загрузок перезагрузите ваш ПК

Проверка доступности компилятора

После перезагрузки проверим доступен ли компилятор, для этого запустите cmd.exe скопируйте и вставьте в консоль строку

Будет запущена консоль разработчика:

Компилятор успешно установлен и доступен.

Теперь пришло время установить расширение для поддержки с++ в VSCode.

Установка расширения для поддержки С++ в VSCode

Откроется панель Extensions: Marketplace – это каталог, из которого мы можем скачать все необходимые расширения и темы, достаточно знать их название.

Выберите указанный пункт и нажмите install

Будет начато скачивание дополнительных компонентов. После окончания загрузок расширение будет готово к использованию.

Настройка VSCode для использования компилятора MSVC

Для того, чтобы протестировать работу компилятора создадим тестовый проект.

Для нормального функционирования компилятора MSVC нужно установить несколько переменных окружения. Чтобы упростить задачу воспользуемся Visual Studio 2019 Developer Command Prompt.

Запустите его из меню Пуск введя слово developer, откроется консоль:

Допустим, наши проекты буду находится в папке d:\cpp

Создадим данную папку и перейдем в нее:

Создадим папку для проекта test

Запустим VSCode из этой папки

Откроется окно VSCode

Обратите внимание наша папка уже открыта.

Добавим новый файл для этого нажмите на кнопку:

В появившееся поле введите имя файла main.cpp

Введите текст программы и не забудьте сохранить результат:

Настройка компилятора для проекта

Теперь у нас есть программа, осталось её скомпилировать, давайте настроим задачу сборки для проекта.

Настройка задачи сборки (Build Task)

Выберите пункт меню Terminal –> Configure Default Build Task…

В окне выберите – cl.exe

Будет создан файл сборки:

Закройте вкладку с файлом tasks.json

Откройте файл main.cpp и нажмите

Сборка успешно завершена.

Щёлкните мышкой по терминалу и нажмите пробел, чтобы закрыть результаты сборки.

Введите main.exe и нажмите Enter

Поздравляю, мы успешно настроили среду разработки VSCode для работы с языком программирования C++.

Заключение

Сегодня мы добавили поддержку языка программирования C++ в среду разработки VSCode.

Нами был установлен компилятор Microsoft C++ compiler (MSVC) и проверена его работоспособность.

Мы добавили тестовый проект и настроили задачу сборки Build Task для нашего проекта.

Configure VS Code for Microsoft C++

In this tutorial, you configure Visual Studio Code to use the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler and debugger on Windows.

After configuring VS Code, you will compile and debug a simple Hello World program in VS Code. This tutorial does not teach you details about the Microsoft C++ toolset or the C++ language. For those subjects, there are many good resources available on the Web.

If you have any problems, feel free to file an issue for this tutorial in the VS Code documentation repository.

Prerequisites

To successfully complete this tutorial, you must do the following:

Install the C/C++ extension for VS Code. You can install the C/C++ extension by searching for ‘c++’ in the Extensions view ( ⇧⌘X (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+X ) ).

Install the Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC) compiler toolset.

If you have a recent version of Visual Studio, open the Visual Studio Installer from the Windows Start menu and verify that the C++ workload is checked. If it’s not installed, then check the box and select the Modify button in the installer.

You can also install the Desktop development with C++ workload without a full Visual Studio IDE installation. From the Visual Studio Downloads page, scroll down until you see Tools for Visual Studio under the All Downloads section and select the download for Build Tools for Visual Studio 2022.

This will launch the Visual Studio Installer, which will bring up a dialog showing the available Visual Studio Build Tools workloads. Check the Desktop development with C++ workload and select Install.

Note: You can use the C++ toolset from Visual Studio Build Tools along with Visual Studio Code to compile, build, and verify any C++ codebase as long as you also have a valid Visual Studio license (either Community, Pro, or Enterprise) that you are actively using to develop that C++ codebase.

Check your Microsoft Visual C++ installation

To use MSVC from a command line or VS Code, you must run from a Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio. An ordinary shell such as PowerShell, Bash, or the Windows command prompt does not have the necessary path environment variables set.

To open the Developer Command Prompt for VS, start typing ‘developer’ in the Windows Start menu, and you should see it appear in the list of suggestions. The exact name depends on which version of Visual Studio or the Visual Studio Build Tools you have installed. Select the item to open the prompt.

You can test that you have the C++ compiler, cl.exe , installed correctly by typing ‘cl’ and you should see a copyright message with the version and basic usage description.

If the Developer Command Prompt is using the BuildTools location as the starting directory (you wouldn’t want to put projects there), navigate to your user folder ( C:\users\\ ) before you start creating new projects.

Note: If for some reason you can’t run VS Code from a Developer Command Prompt, you can find a workaround for building C++ projects with VS Code in Run VS Code outside a Developer Command Prompt.

Create Hello World

From the Developer Command Prompt, create an empty folder called "projects" where you can store all your VS Code projects, then create a subfolder called "helloworld", navigate into it, and open VS Code ( code ) in that folder ( . ) by entering the following commands:

The "code ." command opens VS Code in the current working folder, which becomes your "workspace". As you go through the tutorial, you will see three files created in a .vscode folder in the workspace:

• tasks.json (build instructions)
• launch.json (debugger settings)
• c_cpp_properties.json (compiler path and IntelliSense settings)

Add a source code file

In the File Explorer title bar, select the New File button and name the file helloworld.cpp .

Add hello world source code

Now paste in this source code:

Now press ⌘S (Windows, Linux Ctrl+S ) to save the file. Notice how the file you just added appears in the File Explorer view ( ⇧⌘E (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+E ) ) in the side bar of VS Code:

You can also enable Auto Save to automatically save your file changes, by checking Auto Save in the main File menu.

The Activity Bar on the far left lets you open different views such as Search, Source Control, and Run. You’ll look at the Run view later in this tutorial. You can find out more about the other views in the VS Code User Interface documentation.

Note: When you save or open a C++ file, you may see a notification from the C/C++ extension about the availability of an Insiders version, which lets you test new features and fixes. You can ignore this notification by selecting the X (Clear Notification).

Explore IntelliSense

In your new helloworld.cpp file, hover over vector or string to see type information. After the declaration of the msg variable, start typing msg. as you would when calling a member function. You should immediately see a completion list that shows all the member functions, and a window that shows the type information for the msg object:

You can press the Tab key to insert the selected member; then, when you add the opening parenthesis, you will see information about any arguments that the function requires.

Run helloworld.cpp

Remember, the C++ extension uses the C++ compiler you have installed on your machine to build your program. Make sure you have a C++ compiler installed before attempting to run and debug helloworld.cpp in VS Code.

Open helloworld.cpp so that it is the active file.

Press the play button in the top right corner of the editor.

Choose C/C++: cl.exe build and debug active file from the list of detected compilers on your system.

You’ll only be asked to choose a compiler the first time you run helloworld.cpp . This compiler will be set as the "default" compiler in tasks.json file.

After the build succeeds, your program’s output will appear in the integrated Terminal.

If you get an error trying to build and debug with cl.exe, make sure you have started VS Code from the Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio using the code . shortcut.

The first time you run your program, the C++ extension creates tasks.json , which you’ll find in your project’s .vscode folder. tasks.json stores build configurations.

Your new tasks.json file should look similar to the JSON below:

Note: You can learn more about tasks.json variables in the variables reference.

The command setting specifies the program to run; in this case that is "cl.exe". The args array specifies the command-line arguments that will be passed to cl.exe. These arguments must be specified in the order expected by the compiler.

This task tells the C++ compiler to take the active file ( $ ), compile it, and create an executable file ( /Fe: switch) in the current directory ( $ ) with the same name as the active file but with the .exe extension ( $.exe ), resulting in helloworld.exe for our example.

The label value is what you will see in the tasks list; you can name this whatever you like.

The detail value is what you will as the description of the task in the tasks list. It’s highly recommended to rename this value to differentiate it from similar tasks.

The problemMatcher value selects the output parser to use for finding errors and warnings in the compiler output. For cl.exe, you’ll get the best results if you use the $msCompile problem matcher.

From now on, the play button will read from tasks.json to figure out how to build and run your program. You can define multiple build tasks in tasks.json , and whichever task is marked as the default will be used by the play button. In case you need to change the default compiler, you can run Tasks: Configure default build task. Alternatively you can modify the tasks.json file and remove the default by replacing this segment:

Modifying tasks.json

You can modify your tasks.json to build multiple C++ files by using an argument like "$/*.cpp" instead of $ .This will build all .cpp files in your current folder. You can also modify the output filename by replacing "$\\$.exe" with a hard-coded filename (for example "$\\myProgram.exe" ).

Debug helloworld.cpp

1. Go back to helloworld.cpp so that it is the active file.
2. Set a breakpoint by clicking on the editor margin or using F9 on the current line.
3. From the drop-down next to the play button, select Debug C/C++ File.
4. Choose C/C++: cl.exe build and debug active file from the list of detected compilers on your system (you’ll only be asked to choose a compiler the first time you run/debug helloworld.cpp ).

The play button has two modes: Run C/C++ File and Debug C/C++ File. It will default to the last-used mode. If you see the debug icon in the play button, you can just click the play button to debug, instead of selecting the drop-down menu item.

If you get an error trying to build and debug with cl.exe, make sure you have started VS Code from the Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio using the code . shortcut.

Explore the debugger

Before you start stepping through the code, let’s take a moment to notice several changes in the user interface:

The Integrated Terminal appears at the bottom of the source code editor. In the Debug Output tab, you see output that indicates the debugger is up and running.

The editor highlights the line where you set a breakpoint before starting the debugger:

The Run and Debug view on the left shows debugging information. You’ll see an example later in the tutorial.

At the top of the code editor, a debugging control panel appears. You can move this around the screen by grabbing the dots on the left side.

Step through the code

Now you’re ready to start stepping through the code.

Click or press the Step over icon in the debugging control panel.

This will advance program execution to the first line of the for loop, and skip over all the internal function calls within the vector and string classes that are invoked when the msg variable is created and initialized. Notice the change in the Variables window on the left.

In this case, the errors are expected because, although the variable names for the loop are now visible to the debugger, the statement has not executed yet, so there is nothing to read at this point. The contents of msg are visible, however, because that statement has completed.

Press Step over again to advance to the next statement in this program (skipping over all the internal code that is executed to initialize the loop). Now, the Variables window shows information about the loop variables.

Press Step over again to execute the cout statement. (Note that as of the March 2019 release, the C++ extension does not print any output to the Debug Console until the loop exits.)

If you like, you can keep pressing Step over until all the words in the vector have been printed to the console. But if you are curious, try pressing the Step Into button to step through source code in the C++ standard library!

To return to your own code, one way is to keep pressing Step over. Another way is to set a breakpoint in your code by switching to the helloworld.cpp tab in the code editor, putting the insertion point somewhere on the cout statement inside the loop, and pressing F9 . A red dot appears in the gutter on the left to indicate that a breakpoint has been set on this line.

Then press F5 to start execution from the current line in the standard library header. Execution will break on cout . If you like, you can press F9 again to toggle off the breakpoint.

Set a watch

Sometimes you might want to keep track of the value of a variable as your program executes. You can do this by setting a watch on the variable.

Place the insertion point inside the loop. In the Watch window, select the plus sign and in the text box, type word , which is the name of the loop variable. Now view the Watch window as you step through the loop.

Add another watch by adding this statement before the loop: int i = 0; . Then, inside the loop, add this statement: ++i; . Now add a watch for i as you did in the previous step.

To quickly view the value of any variable while execution is paused on a breakpoint, you can hover over it with the mouse pointer.

Customize debugging with launch.json

When you debug with the play button or F5 , the C++ extension creates a dynamic debug configuration on the fly.

There are cases where you’d want to customize your debug configuration, such as specifying arguments to pass to the program at runtime. You can define custom debug configurations in a launch.json file.

To create launch.json , choose Add Debug Configuration from the play button drop-down menu.

You’ll then see a dropdown for various predefined debugging configurations. Choose C/C++: cl.exe build and debug active file.

VS Code creates a launch.json file, which looks something like this:

In the JSON above, program specifies the program you want to debug. Here it is set to the active file folder ( $ ) and active filename with the .exe extension ( $.exe ), which if helloworld.cpp is the active file will be helloworld.exe . The args property is an array of arguments to pass to the program at runtime.

By default, the C++ extension won’t add any breakpoints to your source code and the stopAtEntry value is set to false .

Change the stopAtEntry value to true to cause the debugger to stop on the main method when you start debugging.

From now on, the play button and F5 will read from your launch.json file when launching your program for debugging.

C/C++ configurations

If you want more control over the C/C++ extension, you can create a c_cpp_properties.json file, which will allow you to change settings such as the path to the compiler, include paths, C++ standard (default is C++17), and more.

You can view the C/C++ configuration UI by running the command C/C++: Edit Configurations (UI) from the Command Palette ( ⇧⌘P (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+P ) ).

This opens the C/C++ Configurations page. When you make changes here, VS Code writes them to a file called c_cpp_properties.json in the .vscode folder.

Visual Studio Code places these settings in .vscode\c_cpp_properties.json . If you open that file directly, it should look something like this:

You only need to add to the Include path array setting if your program includes header files that are not in your workspace or in the standard library path.

Compiler path

The compilerPath setting is an important setting in your configuration. The extension uses it to infer the path to the C++ standard library header files. When the extension knows where to find those files, it can provide useful features like smart completions and Go to Definition navigation.

The C/C++ extension attempts to populate compilerPath with the default compiler location based on what it finds on your system. The extension looks in several common compiler locations.

The compilerPath search order is:

• First check for the Microsoft Visual C++ compilerOpe
• Then look for g++ on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
• Then g++ for Mingw-w64.

If you have g++ or WSL installed, you might need to change compilerPath to match the preferred compiler for your project. For Microsoft C++, the path should look something like this, depending on which specific version you have installed: "C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2017/BuildTools/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.16.27023/bin/Hostx64/x64/cl.exe".

Reusing your C++ configuration

VS Code is now configured to use the Microsoft C++ compiler. The configuration applies to the current workspace. To reuse the configuration, just copy the JSON files to a .vscode folder in a new project folder (workspace) and change the names of the source file(s) and executable as needed.

Run VS Code outside the Developer Command Prompt

In certain circumstances, it isn’t possible to run VS Code from Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio (for example, in Remote Development through SSH scenarios). In that case, you can automate initialization of Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio during the build using the following tasks.json configuration:

Note: The path to VsDevCmd.bat might be different depending on the Visual Studio version or installation path. You can find the path to VsDevCmd.bat by opening a Command Prompt and running dir "\VsDevCmd*" /s .

Troubleshooting

The term ‘cl.exe’ is not recognized

If you see the error "The term ‘cl.exe’ is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.", this usually means you are running VS Code outside of a Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio and VS Code doesn’t know the path to the cl.exe compiler.

VS Code must either be started from the Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio, or the task must be configured to run outside a Developer Command Prompt.

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Use the Microsoft C++ toolset from the command line

You can build C and C++ applications on the command line by using tools that are included in Visual Studio. The Microsoft C++ (MSVC) compiler toolset is also downloadable as a standalone package. You don’t need to install the Visual Studio IDE if you don’t plan to use it.

[!NOTE] This article is about how to set up an environment to use the individual compilers, linkers, librarian, and other basic tools. The native project build system in Visual Studio, based on MSBuild, doesn’t use the environment as described in this article. For more information on how to use MSBuild from the command line, see MSBuild on the command line — C++.

Download and install the tools

If you’ve installed Visual Studio and a C++ workload, you have all the command-line tools. For information on how to install C++ and Visual Studio, see Install C++ support in Visual Studio. If you only want the command-line toolset, download the Build Tools for Visual Studio. When you run the downloaded executable, it updates and runs the Visual Studio Installer. To install only the tools you need for C++ development, select the Desktop development with C++ workload. You can select optional libraries and toolsets to include under Installation details. To build code by using the Visual Studio 2015, 2017, or 2019 toolsets, select the optional MSVC v140, v141, or v142 build tools. When you’re satisfied with your selections, choose Install.

. moniker-end . moniker range=»<=msvc-150″

If you’ve installed Visual Studio and a C++ workload, you have all the command-line tools. For information on how to install C++ and Visual Studio, see Install C++ support in Visual Studio. If you only want the command-line toolset, download the Build Tools for Visual Studio 2017. When you run the downloaded executable, it updates and runs the Visual Studio Installer. To install only the tools you need for C++ development, select the Visual C++ build tools workload. You can select optional libraries and toolsets to include under Installation details. To build code by using the Visual Studio 2015 toolset, select the optional MSVC v140 build tools. When you’re satisfied with your selections, choose Install.

How to use the command-line tools

When you choose one of the C++ workloads in the Visual Studio Installer, it installs the Visual Studio platform toolset. A platform toolset has all the C and C++ tools for a specific Visual Studio version. The tools include the C/C++ compilers, linkers, assemblers, and other build tools, and matching libraries and header files. You can use all of these tools at the command line. They’re also used internally by the Visual Studio IDE. There are separate x86-hosted and x64-hosted compilers and tools to build code for x86, x64, ARM, and ARM64 targets. Each set of tools for a particular host and target build architecture is stored in its own directory.

To work correctly, the tools require several specific environment variables to be set. These variables are used to add the tools to the path, and to set the locations of include files, library files, and SDKs. To make it easy to set these environment variables, the installer creates customized command files, or batch files, during installation. You can run one of these command files to set a specific host and target build architecture, Windows SDK version, and platform toolset. For convenience, the installer also creates shortcuts in your Start menu. The shortcuts open developer command prompt windows by using these command files for specific combinations of host and target. These shortcuts ensure all the required environment variables are set and ready to use.

The required environment variables are specific to your installation and to the build architecture you choose. They also might be changed by product updates or upgrades. This variability is one reason why we recommend you use an installed command prompt shortcut or command file, instead of setting the environment variables yourself.

The toolsets, command files, and shortcuts installed depend on your computer processor and the options you selected during installation. The x86-hosted tools and cross tools that build x86 and x64 code are always installed. If you have 64-bit Windows, the x64-hosted tools and cross tools that build x86 and x64 code are also installed. If you choose the optional C++ Universal Windows Platform tools, then the x86 and x64 tools that build ARM and ARM64 code also get installed. Other workloads may install these and other tools.

Path and environment variables for command-line builds

The MSVC command-line tools use the PATH , TMP , INCLUDE , LIB , and LIBPATH environment variables, and also use other environment variables specific to your installed tools, platforms, and SDKs. Even a simple Visual Studio installation may set twenty or more environment variables. This complexity is why we strongly recommend that you use a developer command prompt shortcut or one of the customized command files. We don’t recommend you set these variables in the Windows environment yourself.

To see which environment variables are set by a developer command prompt shortcut, you can use the SET command. Open a plain command prompt window and capture the output of the SET command for a baseline. Open a developer command prompt window and capture the output of the SET command for comparison. Use a diff tool such as the one built into Visual Studio to highlight the environment variables set by the developer command prompt. For more information about the compiler and linker environment variables, see CL environment variables.

Developer command prompt shortcuts

The command prompt shortcuts are installed in a version-specific Visual Studio folder in your Windows Start menu. Here’s a list of the base command prompt shortcuts and the build architectures they support:

• Developer Command Prompt — Sets the environment to use 32-bit, x86-native tools to build 32-bit, x86-native code.
• x86 Native Tools Command Prompt — Sets the environment to use 32-bit, x86-native tools to build 32-bit, x86-native code.
• x64 Native Tools Command Prompt — Sets the environment to use 64-bit, x64-native tools to build 64-bit, x64-native code.
• x86_x64 Cross Tools Command Prompt — Sets the environment to use 32-bit, x86-native tools to build 64-bit, x64-native code.
• x64_x86 Cross Tools Command Prompt — Sets the environment to use 64-bit, x64-native tools to build 32-bit, x86-native code.

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The Start menu folder and shortcut names vary depending on the installed version of Visual Studio. If you set one, they also depend on the installation Nickname. For example, suppose you installed Visual Studio 2022, and you gave it a nickname of Latest. The developer command prompt shortcut is named Developer Command Prompt for VS 2022 (Latest), in a folder named Visual Studio 2022.

. moniker-end . moniker range=»msvc-150″

The Start menu folder and shortcut names vary depending on the installed version of Visual Studio. If you set one, they also depend on the installation Nickname. For example, suppose you installed Visual Studio 2017, and you gave it a nickname of Latest. The developer command prompt shortcut is named Developer Command Prompt for VS 2017 (Latest), in a folder named Visual Studio 2017.

. moniker-end . moniker range=»< msvc-150″

The Start menu folder and shortcut names vary depending on the installed version of Visual Studio. For example, suppose you installed Visual Studio 2015. The developer command prompt shortcut is named Developer Command Prompt for VS 2015.

[!NOTE] Several command-line tools or tool options may require Administrator permission. If you have permission issues when you use them, we recommend that you open the developer command prompt window by using the Run as Administrator option. Right-click to open the shortcut menu for the command prompt window, then choose More, Run as administrator.

To open a developer command prompt window

On the desktop, open the Windows Start menu. In Windows 11, choose the All apps button to open the list of installed apps. In Windows 10, the list is open to the left. Scroll down the list to find and open the folder (not the app) for your version of Visual Studio, for example, Visual Studio 2022.

In the folder, choose the Developer Command Prompt for your version of Visual Studio. This shortcut starts a developer command prompt window that uses the default build architecture of 32-bit, x86-native tools to build 32-bit, x86-native code. If you prefer a non-default build architecture, choose one of the native or cross tools command prompts to specify the host and target architecture.

For an even faster way to open a developer command prompt, enter developer command prompt in the desktop search box. Then choose the result you want.

[!NOTE] By default, the current working directory in a developer command prompt is the root of your Visual Studio installation in the Program Files directory. This isn’t an appropriate location for your code and projects. Change the current working directory to another location before you create a project. The IDE creates projects in your user directory, typically in %USERPROFILE%\source\repos.

Developer command file locations

If you prefer to set the build environment in an existing command prompt window, you can use one of the command files created by the installer. We recommend you set the environment in a new command prompt window. We don’t recommend you later switch environments in the same command window.

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The command file location depends on the version of Visual Studio you installed, and on choices you made during installation. For Visual Studio 2019, the typical installation location on a 64-bit system is in \Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\<edition> . The <edition> may be Community, Professional, Enterprise, BuildTools, or another nickname you supplied.

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The command file location depends on the version of Visual Studio you installed, and on choices you made during installation. For Visual Studio 2019, the typical installation location on a 64-bit system is in \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\<edition> . The <edition> may be Community, Professional, Enterprise, BuildTools, or another nickname you supplied.

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The command file location depends on the version of Visual Studio you installed, and on choices you made during installation. For Visual Studio 2017, the typical installation location on a 64-bit system is in \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\<edition> . The <edition> may be Community, Professional, Enterprise, BuildTools, or another nickname you supplied.

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The command file location depends on the Visual Studio version, and the installation directory. For Visual Studio 2015, the typical installation location on a 64-bit system is in \Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0 .

The primary developer command prompt command file, VsDevCmd.bat , is located in the Common7\Tools subdirectory. When no parameters are specified, it sets the environment to use the x86-native tools to build 32-bit x86 code.

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More command files are available to set up specific build architectures. The command files available depend on the Visual Studio workloads and options you’ve installed. In Visual Studio 2017 and Visual Studio 2019, you’ll find them in the VC\Auxiliary\Build subdirectory.

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More command files are available to set up specific build architectures. The command files available depend on the Visual Studio workloads and options you’ve installed. In Visual Studio 2015, they’re located in the VC, VC\bin, or VC\bin\architecture subdirectories, where architecture is one of the native or cross-compiler options.

These command files set default parameters and call VsDevCmd.bat to set up the specified build architecture environment. A typical installation may include these command files:

[!CAUTION] The vcvarsall.bat file and other Visual Studio command files can vary from computer to computer. Do not replace a missing or damaged vcvarsall.bat file by using a file from another computer. Rerun the Visual Studio installer to replace the missing file.

The vcvarsall.bat file also varies from version to version. If the current version of Visual Studio is installed on a computer that also has an earlier version of Visual Studio, do not run vcvarsall.bat or another Visual Studio command file from different versions in the same command prompt window.

Use the developer tools in an existing command window

The simplest way to specify a particular build architecture in an existing command window is to use the vcvarsall.bat file. Use vcvarsall.bat to set environment variables to configure the command line for native 32-bit or 64-bit compilation. Arguments let you specify cross-compilation to x86, x64, ARM, or ARM64 processors. You can target Microsoft Store, Universal Windows Platform, or Windows Desktop platforms. You can even specify which Windows SDK to use, and select the platform toolset version.

When used with no arguments, vcvarsall.bat configures the environment variables to use the current x86-native compiler for 32-bit Windows Desktop targets. You can add arguments to configure the environment to use any of the native or cross compiler tools. vcvarsall.bat displays an error message if you specify a configuration that’s not installed, or not available on your computer.

vcvarsall.bat [ architecture ] [ platform_type ] [ winsdk_version ] [ -vcvars_ver= vcversion ] [ spectre_mode ]

architecture
This optional argument specifies the host and target architecture to use. If architecture isn’t specified, the default build environment is used. These arguments are supported:

platform_type
This optional argument allows you to specify store or uwp as the platform type. By default, the environment is set to build desktop or console apps.

winsdk_version
Optionally specifies the version of the Windows SDK to use. By default, the latest installed Windows SDK is used. To specify the Windows SDK version, you can use a full Windows SDK number such as 10.0.10240.0 , or specify 8.1 to use the Windows 8.1 SDK.

vcversion
Optionally specifies the Visual Studio compiler toolset to use. By default, the environment is set to use the current Visual Studio compiler toolset.

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Use -vcvars_ver=14.2x.yyyyy to specify a specific version of the Visual Studio 2019 compiler toolset.

Use -vcvars_ver=14.29 to specify the latest version of the Visual Studio 2019 compiler toolset.

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Use -vcvars_ver=14.16 to specify the latest version of the Visual Studio 2017 compiler toolset.

Use -vcvars_ver=14.1x.yyyyy to specify a specific version of the Visual Studio 2017 compiler toolset.

Use -vcvars_ver=14.0 to specify the Visual Studio 2015 compiler toolset.

spectre_mode
Leave this parameter out to use libraries without Spectre mitigations. Use the value spectre to use libraries with Spectre mitigations.

To set up the build environment in an existing command prompt window

At the command prompt, use the CD command to change to the Visual Studio installation directory. Then, use CD again to change to the subdirectory that contains the configuration-specific command files. For Visual Studio 2019 and Visual Studio 2017, use the VC\Auxiliary\Build subdirectory. For Visual Studio 2015, use the VC subdirectory.

Enter the command for your preferred developer environment. For example, to build ARM code for UWP on a 64-bit platform, using the latest Windows SDK and Visual Studio compiler toolset, use this command line:

vcvarsall.bat amd64_arm uwp

Create your own command prompt shortcut

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Open the Properties dialog for a developer command prompt shortcut to see the command target used. For example, the target for the x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2019 shortcut is something similar to:

%comspec% /k «C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat»

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Open the Properties dialog for a developer command prompt shortcut to see the command target used. For example, the target for the x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2017 shortcut is something similar to:

%comspec% /k «C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat»

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Open the Properties dialog for a developer command prompt shortcut to see the command target used. For example, the target for the VS2015 x64 Native Tools Command Prompt shortcut is something similar to:

%comspec% /k «C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat» amd64

The architecture-specific batch files set the architecture parameter and call vcvarsall.bat . You can pass the same options to these batch files as you would pass to vcvarsall.bat , or you can just call vcvarsall.bat directly. To specify parameters for your own command shortcut, add them to the end of the command in double-quotes. For example, here’s a shortcut to build ARM code for UWP on a 64-bit platform, using the latest Windows SDK. To use an earlier compiler toolset, specify the version number. Use something like this command target in your shortcut:

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%comspec% /k «C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat» amd64_arm uwp -vcvars_ver=14.29

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%comspec% /k «C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat» amd64_arm uwp -vcvars_ver=14.19

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%comspec% /k «C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat» amd64 -vcvars_ver=14.0

Adjust the path to reflect your Visual Studio installation directory. The vcvarsall.bat file has additional information about specific version numbers.

To build a C/C++ project at a command prompt, Visual Studio provides these command-line tools:

CL
Use the compiler (cl.exe) to compile and link source code files into apps, libraries, and DLLs.

Link
Use the linker (link.exe) to link compiled object files and libraries into apps and DLLs.

When you build on the command line, the F1 command isn’t available for instant help. Instead, you can use a search engine to get information about warnings, errors, and messages. You can also download and use the offline help files. To use the search in Microsoft Learn, enter your query in the search box at the top of any article.

Command-line project management tools

By default, the Visual Studio IDE uses native project build systems based on MSBuild. You can invoke MSBuild directly to build projects without using the IDE. You can also use the devenv command to use Visual Studio to build projects and solutions. Visual Studio also supports build systems based on CMake or NMake.

MSBuild
Use MSBuild (msbuild.exe) and a project file (.vcxproj) to configure a build and invoke the toolset without loading the Visual Studio IDE. It’s equivalent to running the Build project or Build Solution command in the Visual Studio IDE. MSBuild has advantages over the IDE when you build at the command line. You don’t have to install the full IDE on all your build servers and build pipelines. You avoid the extra overhead of the IDE. MSBuild runs in containerized build environments, and supports a binary logger.

DEVENV
Use DEVENV (devenv.exe) combined with a command-line switch such as /Build or /Clean to execute certain build commands without displaying the Visual Studio IDE.

CMake
CMake (cmake.exe) is a cross-platform, open-source tool for defining build processes that run on multiple platforms. CMake can configure and control native build tools for its supported platforms, such as MSBuild and Make. For more information about CMake, see the CMake documentation.

NMAKE
Use NMAKE (nmake.exe) to build C++ projects by using a traditional makefile.

[!NOTE] Starting in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5, MSBuild and DEVENV don’t use the command-line environment to control the toolset and libraries used.

In this section

These articles show how to build apps on the command line, and describe how to customize the command-line build environment. Some show how to use 64-bit toolsets, and target x86, x64, ARM, and ARM64 platforms. They also describe use of the command-line build tools MSBuild and NMAKE.

Walkthrough: Compiling a native C++ program on the command line
Gives an example that shows how to create and compile a C++ program on the command line.

Walkthrough: Compile a C program on the command line
Describes how to compile a program written in the C programming language.

Walkthrough: Compiling a C++/CLI program on the command line
Describes how to create and compile a C++/CLI program that uses the .NET Framework.

Walkthrough: Compiling a C++/CX program on the command line
Describes how to create and compile a C++/CX program that uses the Windows Runtime.

NMAKE reference
Provides links to articles that describe the Microsoft Program Maintenance Utility (NMAKE.EXE).

MSBuild on the command line — C++
Provides links to articles that discuss how to use msbuild.exe from the command line.

/MD, /MT, /LD (Use run-time library)
Describes how to use these compiler options to use a Debug or Release run-time library.

C/C++ compiler options
Provides links to articles that discuss the C and C++ compiler options and CL.exe.

MSVC linker options
Provides links to articles that discuss the linker options and LINK.exe.

Additional MSVC build tools
Provides links to the C/C++ build tools that are included in Visual Studio.