MS Visual C++ 2012 SDK might be already mature enough and lots of libraries are being built with this version these days. Its support for C++11 is also supposedly better so lets try it. This is not a review. Only a simple “how to” about installing and troubleshooting.

As usual things with Microsoft software never goes smoothly. First trouble to shoot is to find the right installer to download. First I tried Windows SDK 8 but it does not contain the compilers and stuff as before. Now the Visual Studio Express 2012 has all the development tools. Download only the ISO image. It already contains the wdexpress_full.exe installer.

Good option is to install an update as well.

Installation was long but surprisingly without any catches. Huge catch comes after – still no x64 in the express edition. Fffff…! Fortunately if you combine the MSVS Express and the SDK you will get both x86 an x64 support.

1. Install MSVS Express.
2. Update MSVS.
3. Install SDK.

Then you can find command prompts in Start > Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 > Visual Studio Tools.

I found interesting posts (here, here) about the (lack of) x64 support. The second one makes quite sense. Why bother with a 64 bit compilation if a 32 bit applications works in a 64 bit environment as well? If you don’t depend on any other 64 bit library then you can stick with the 32 bits only. Anyway I think it is a huge mess.

For those waiting for better C++11 support like me I have bad news – still no initializer lists.

Update 18.4.2014

If you have previously installed VC SDK 2010 and now it does not compile in x64 mode because of an error

fatal error LNK1123: failure during conversion to COFF: file invalid or corrupt

then DO NOT INSTALL VS 2010 SP1! MS has a bug in there and they refuse to fix it. Only copy

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\VC\bin\cvtres.exe

to

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\bin\cvtres.exe