6 replies to this topic

[Cromulent]

I've been using the command line tools provided by the Windows 7 Platform SDK for some time and it appears that Microsoft in their infinite wisdom have decided to stop providing them with the release of the Windows 8 SDK. Does anyone know where you are meant to get them from now? I realise I could most likely get them by installing Visual C++ Express but I don't want to clutter up my HDD with stuff I won't use.

You can find the announcement from Microsoft here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/hh852363.aspx

Any help would be greatly appreciated .

[Ravyne]

Unfortunately that's what they've decided to do, so you do, in fact, have to install some version of visual studio in order to build and compile software. Additionally, they've decided that Visual C++ 2012 express can only create Windows 8-style apps, and not Desktop apps. Microsoft is going to release a version of express for desktop development, but not right away.

Its unfortunate that you'll need to install software that you have no intention of using, but at least you can continue using it in your preferred way once you have. It's probably possible to blow away the parts that you won't use though, and both the SDK and the express editions have a lighter footprint to begin with this time around.

[Cromulent]

Unfortunately that's what they've decided to do, so you do, in fact, have to install some version of visual studio in order to build and compile software. Additionally, they've decided that Visual C++ 2012 express can only create Windows 8-style apps, and not Desktop apps. Microsoft is going to release a version of express for desktop development, but not right away.

Its unfortunate that you'll need to install software that you have no intention of using, but at least you can continue using it in your preferred way once you have. It's probably possible to blow away the parts that you won't use though, and both the SDK and the express editions have a lighter footprint to begin with this time around.

Well that is a shame. Thank you for the response .

Guess it's on to plan B then.

[adeyblue]

You could install it in a virtual machine, extract the compiler / headers / libs and them blow the VM away or revert it to a previous snapshot. You could also mount the service pack ISO and extract the files from the cabs with 7zip or similar, though that's only worth the effort if you just want the executables.

Edited by adeyblue, 28 August 2012 - 02:38 PM.

[Matt-D]

It's no longer true about the Express edition being for Metro (now "Modern UI") apps only.
See Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2012/06/08/visual-studio-express-2012-for-windows-desktop.aspx

[gekko]

Have you tried installing the Visual Studio 2012 trial and just using those files? I can't imagine they put licensing checks into the compilers, I would assume only devenv itself. If that's the case, it should work after the trial expires.

I actually have our build servers for 2010 setup this way because of some hard-coded paths in the build system. Uses MSBuild to compile the project, but references libs and headers from the VS2010 install.

[Cromulent]

Since I wasn't particularly keen on installing any version of Visual Studio (I have the pro version of VS 2010 anyway and wasn't really that impressed) I've decided to just go with MinGW instead. It seems to work perfectly fine once I compiled a few essential libraries for it (GLEW and GLFW). Plus it comes with GCC 4.7.0 which has pretty good support for C++11 and has much better support for straight C (i.e it actually supports C99 and some basic stuff from C11) than the Microsoft compiler.

Thank you for the help anyway. It is much appreciated.