Dev C++ Visual Studio Compiler

C compiler and linker options are located under the C/C and Linker nodes in the left pane under Configuration Properties. These translate directly to command-line options that will be passed to the compiler. To read documentation about a specific option.

When you sign into Visual Studio Community, you get access to a broad set of free developer tools, selected Xamarin University courses on-demand, Pluralsight training, Azure credits, and more as part of Visual Studio Dev Essentials. Specify symbol (.pdb) and source files in the Visual Studio debugger; C compiler and linker options. C compiler and linker options are located under the C/C and Linker nodes in the left pane under Configuration Properties. These translate directly to command-line options that will be passed to the compiler.

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If you haven't downloaded and installed Visual Studio and the Visual C++ tools yet, here's how to get started.

Visual Studio 2019 Installation

Welcome to Visual Studio 2019! In this version, it's easy to choose and install just the features you need. And because of its reduced minimum footprint, it installs quickly and with less system impact.

Note

This topic applies to installation of Visual Studio on Windows. Visual Studio Code is a lightweight, cross-platform development environment that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. The Microsoft C/C++ for Visual Studio Code extension supports IntelliSense, debugging, code formatting, auto-completion. Visual Studio for Mac doesn't support Microsoft C++, but does support .NET languages and cross-platform development. For installation instructions, see Install Visual Studio for Mac.

Want to know more about what else is new in this version? See the Visual Studio release notes.

Ready to install? We'll walk you through it, step-by-step.

Step 1 - Make sure your computer is ready for Visual Studio

Before you begin installing Visual Studio:

  1. Check the system requirements. These requirements help you know whether your computer supports Visual Studio 2019.

  2. Apply the latest Windows updates. These updates ensure that your computer has both the latest security updates and the required system components for Visual Studio.

  3. Reboot. The reboot ensures that any pending installs or updates don't hinder the Visual Studio install.

  4. Free up space. Remove unneeded files and applications from your %SystemDrive% by, for example, running the Disk Cleanup app.

For questions about running previous versions of Visual Studio side by side with Visual Studio 2019, see the Visual Studio 2019 Platform Targeting and Compatibility page.

Step 2 - Download Visual Studio

Next, download the Visual Studio bootstrapper file. To do so, choose the following button, choose the edition of Visual Studio that you want, choose Save, and then choose Open folder.

Step 3 - Install the Visual Studio installer

Run the bootstrapper file to install the Visual Studio Installer. This new lightweight installer includes everything you need to both install and customize Visual Studio.

  1. From your Downloads folder, double-click the bootstrapper that matches or is similar to one of the following files:

    • vs_community.exe for Visual Studio Community
    • vs_professional.exe for Visual Studio Professional
    • vs_enterprise.exe for Visual Studio Enterprise

    If you receive a User Account Control notice, choose Yes.

  2. We'll ask you to acknowledge the Microsoft License Terms and the Microsoft Privacy Statement. Choose Continue.

Step 4 - Choose workloads

After the installer is installed, you can use it to customize your installation by selecting the workloads, or feature sets, that you want. Here's how.

  1. Find the workload you want in the Installing Visual Studio screen.

    For core C++ support, choose the 'Desktop development with C++' workload. It comes with the default core editor, which includes basic code editing support for over 20 languages, the ability to open and edit code from any folder without requiring a project, and integrated source code control.

    Additional workloads support other kinds of C++ development. For example, choose the 'Universal Windows Platform development' workload to create apps that use the Windows Runtime for the Microsoft Store. Choose 'Game development with C++' to create games that use DirectX, Unreal, and Cocos2d. Choose 'Linux development with C++' to target Linux platforms, including IoT development.

    The Installation details pane lists the included and optional components installed by each workload. You can select or deselect optional components in this list. For example, to support development by using the Visual Studio 2017 or 2015 compiler toolsets, choose the MSVC v141 or MSVC v140 optional components. You can add support for MFC, the experimental Modules language extension, IncrediBuild, and more.

  2. After you choose the workload(s) and optional components you want, choose Install.

    Next, status screens appear that show the progress of your Visual Studio installation.

Tip

At any time after installation, you can install workloads or components that you didn't install initially. If you have Visual Studio open, go to Tools > Get Tools and Features... which opens the Visual Studio Installer. Or, open Visual Studio Installer from the Start menu. From there, you can choose the workloads or components that you wish to install. Then, choose Modify.

Step 5 - Choose individual components (Optional)

If you don't want to use the Workloads feature to customize your Visual Studio installation, or you want to add more components than a workload installs, you can do so by installing or adding individual components from the Individual components tab. Choose what you want, and then follow the prompts.

Step 6 - Install language packs (Optional)

By default, the installer program tries to match the language of the operating system when it runs for the first time. To install Visual Studio in a language of your choosing, choose the Language packs tab from the Visual Studio Installer, and then follow the prompts.

Change the installer language from the command line

Another way that you can change the default language is by running the installer from the command line. For example, you can force the installer to run in English by using the following command: vs_installer.exe --locale en-US. The installer will remember this setting when it's run the next time. The installer supports the following language tokens: zh-cn, zh-tw, cs-cz, en-us, es-es, fr-fr, de-de, it-it, ja-jp, ko-kr, pl-pl, pt-br, ru-ru, and tr-tr.

Step 7 - Change the installation location (Optional)

You can reduce the installation footprint of Visual Studio on your system drive. You can choose to move the download cache, shared components, SDKs, and tools to different drives, and keep Visual Studio on the drive that runs it the fastest.

Important

You can select a different drive only when you first install Visual Studio. If you've already installed it and want to change drives, you must uninstall Visual Studio and then reinstall it.

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Step 8 - Start developing

  1. After Visual Studio installation is complete, choose the Launch button to get started developing with Visual Studio.

  2. On the start window, choose Create a new project.

  3. In the search box, enter the type of app you want to create to see a list of available templates. The list of templates depends on the workload(s) that you chose during installation. To see different templates, choose different workloads.

    You can also filter your search for a specific programming language by using the Language drop-down list. You can filter by using the Platform list and the Project type list, too.

  4. Visual Studio opens your new project, and you're ready to code!

C++ Visual Studio 2010

Visual Studio 2017 Installation

Visual Studio C++ Compiler Path

In Visual Studio 2017, it's easy to choose and install just the features you need. And because of its reduced minimum footprint, it installs quickly and with less system impact.

Prerequisites

  • A broadband internet connection. The Visual Studio installer can download several gigabytes of data.

  • A computer that runs Microsoft Windows 7 or later versions. We recommend Windows 10 for the best development experience. Make sure that the latest updates are applied to your system before you install Visual Studio.

  • Enough free disk space. Visual Studio requires at least 7 GB of disk space, and can take 50 GB or more if many common options are installed. We recommend you install it on your C: drive.

For details on the disk space and operating system requirements, see Visual Studio Product Family System Requirements. The installer reports how much disk space is required for the options you select.

Download and install

Dev C++ Visual Studio Compiler Software

  1. Download the latest Visual Studio 2017 installer for Windows.

    Tip

    The Community edition is for individual developers, classroom learning, academic research, and open source development. For other uses, install Visual Studio 2017 Professional or Visual Studio 2017 Enterprise.

  2. Find the installer file you downloaded and run it. It may be displayed in your browser, or you may find it in your Downloads folder. The installer needs Administrator privileges to run. You may see a User Account Control dialog asking you to give permission to let the installer make changes to your system; choose Yes. If you're having trouble, find the downloaded file in File Explorer, right-click on the installer icon, and choose Run as Administrator from the context menu.

  3. The installer presents you with a list of workloads, which are groups of related options for specific development areas. Support for C++ is now part of optional workloads that aren't installed by default.

    For C++, select the Desktop development with C++ workload and then choose Install.

  4. When the installation completes, choose the Launch button to start Visual Studio.

    The first time you run Visual Studio, you're asked to sign in with a Microsoft Account. If you don't have one, you can create one for free. You must also choose a theme. Don't worry, you can change it later if you want to.

    It may take Visual Studio several minutes to get ready for use the first time you run it. Here's what it looks like in a quick time-lapse:

    Visual Studio starts much faster when you run it again.

  5. When Visual Studio opens, check to see if the flag icon in the title bar is highlighted:

    If it's highlighted, select it to open the Notifications window. If there are any updates available for Visual Studio, we recommend you install them now. Once the installation is complete, restart Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2015 Installation

Dev C++ Visual Studio Compiler

To install Visual Studio 2015, go to Download older versions of Visual Studio. Run the setup program and choose Custom installation and then choose the C++ component. To add C++ support to an existing Visual Studio 2015 installation, click on the Windows Start button and type Add Remove Programs. Open the program from the results list and then find your Visual Studio 2015 installation in the list of installed programs. Double-click it, then choose Modify and select the Visual C++ components to install.

In general, we highly recommend that you use Visual Studio 2017 even if you need to compile your code using the Visual Studio 2015 compiler. For more information, see Use native multi-targeting in Visual Studio to build old projects.

When Visual Studio is running, you're ready to continue to the next step.

Next Steps

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In the IDE, all information that is needed to build a project is exposed as properties. This information includes the application name, extension (such as DLL, LIB, EXE), compiler options, linker options, debugger settings, custom build steps, and many other things. Typically, you use property pages to view and modify these properties. To access the property pages, choose Project > projectname Properties from the main menu, or right-click on the project node in Solution Explorer and choose Properties.

Default properties

When you create a project, the system assigns values for various properties. The defaults vary somewhat depending on the kind of project and what options you choose in the app wizard. For example, an ATL project has properties related to MIDL files, but these are absent in a basic console application. The default properties are shown in the General pane in the Property Pages:

Applying properties to build configurations and target platforms

Some properties, such as the application name, apply to all build variations, regardless of the target platform or whether it is a debug or release build. But most properties are configuration-dependent. This is because the compiler has to know what specific platform the program will run on and what specific compiler options to use in order to generate the correct code. Therefore, when you set a property, it is important to pay attention to which configuration and platform the new value should apply to. Should it apply only to Debug Win32 builds, or should it also apply to Debug ARM and Debug x64? For example, the Optimization property, by default, is set to Maximize Speed (/O2) in a Release configuration, but is disabled in the Debug configuration.

The property pages are designed so that you can always see, and if necessary modify, which configuration and platform a property value should apply to. The following illustration shows the property pages with the configuration and platform information in the list boxes at the top. When the Optimization property is set here, it will apply only to Debug Win32 builds, which happens to be the active configuration, as shown by the red arrows.

The following illustration shows the same project property page, but the configuration has been changed to Release. Note the different value for the Optimization property. Also note that the active configuration is still Debug. You can set properties for any configuration here; it doesn't have to be the active one.

Target platforms

Target platform refers to the kind of device and/or operating system that the executable will run on. You can build a project for more than one platform. The available target platforms for C++ projects depend on the kind of project; they include but are not limited to Win32, x64, ARM, Android, and iOS. The x86 target platform that you might see in Configuration Manager is identical to Win32 in native C++ projects. Win32 means 32-bit Windows and x64 means 64-bit Windows. For more information about these two platforms, see Running 32-bit applications.

The Any CPU target platform value that you might see in Configuration Manager has no effect on native C++ projects; it is relevant for C++/CLI and other .NET project types. For more information, see /CLRIMAGETYPE (Specify Type of CLR Image).

For more information about setting properties for a Debug build, see:

C++ compiler and linker options

C++ compiler and linker options are located under the C/C++ and Linker nodes in the left pane under Configuration Properties. These translate directly to command-line options that will be passed to the compiler. To read documentation about a specific option, select the option in the center pane and press F1. Or, you can browse documentation for all the options at MSVC Compiler Options and MSVC Linker Options.

The Property Pages dialog box shows only the property pages that are relevant to the current project. For example, if the project does not have an .idl file, the MIDL property page is not displayed. For more information about the setting on each property pages, see Property Pages (C++).

Directory and path values

MSBuild supports the use of compile-time constants called 'macros' for certain string values include directories and paths. These are exposed in the property pages, where you can refer to and modify them by using the Property Editor.

The following illustration shows the property pages for a Visual Studio C++ project. In the left pane, the VC++ Directoriesrule is selected, and the right pane lists the properties that are associated with that rule. The $(...) values are called macros. A macro is a compile-time constant that can refer to a value that is defined by Visual Studio or the MSBuild system, or to a user-defined value. By using macros instead of hard-coded values such as directory paths, you can more easily share property settings between machines and between versions of Visual Studio, and you can better ensure that your project settings participate correctly in property inheritance.

You can use the Property Editor to view the values of all available macros.

Predefined macros

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global macros
Applies to all items in a project configuration. Has the syntax $(name). An example of a global macro is $(VCInstallDir), which stores the root directory of your Visual Studio installation. A global macro corresponds to a PropertyGroup in MSBuild.

item macros
Has the syntax %(name). For a file, an item macro applies only to that file—for example, you can use %(AdditionalIncludeDirectories) to specify include directories that apply only to a particular file. This kind of item macro corresponds to an ItemGroup metadata in MSBuild. When it's used in the context of a project configuration, an item macro applies to all files of a certain type. For example, the C/C++ Preprocessor Definitions configuration property can take a %(PreprocessorDefinitions) item macro that applies to all .cpp files in the project. This kind of item macro corresponds to an ItemDefinitionGroup metadata in MSBuild. For more information, see Item Definitions.

User-defined macros

You can create user-defined macros to use as variables in project builds. For example, you could create a user-defined macro that provides a value to a custom build step or a custom build tool. A user-defined macro is a name/value pair. In a project file, use the $(name) notation to access the value.

A user-defined macro is stored in a property sheet. If your project does not already contain a property sheet, you can create one by following the steps under Share or reuse Visual Studio project settings.

To create a user-defined macro

  1. Open the Property Manager window. (On the menu bar, choose View > Property Manager or View > Other Windows > Property Manager.) Open the shortcut menu for a property sheet (its name ends in .user) and then choose Properties. The Property Pages dialog box for that property sheet opens.

  2. In the left pane of the dialog box, select User Macros. In the right pane, choose the Add Macro button to open the Add User Macro dialog box.

  3. In the dialog box, specify a name and value for the macro. Optionally, select the Set this macro as an environment variable in the build environment check box.

Property Editor

You can use the Property Editor to modify certain string properties and select macros as values. To access the Property Editor, select a property on a property page and then choose the down arrow button on the right. If the drop-down list contains <Edit>, then you can choose it to display the Property Editor for that property.

In the Property Editor, you can choose the Macros button to view the available macros and their current values. The following illustration shows the Property Editor for the Additional Include Directories property after the Macros button was chosen. When the Inherit from parent or project defaults check box is selected and you add a new value, it is appended to any values that are currently being inherited. If you clear the check box, your new value replaces the inherited values. In most cases, leave the check box selected.

Add an include directory to the set of default directories

When you add an include directory to a project, it is important not to override all the default directories. The correct way to add a directory is to append the new path, for example 'C:MyNewIncludeDir', and then to Append the $(IncludePath) macro to the property value.

Quickly browse and search all properties

The All Options property page (under the Configuration Properties | C/C++ node in the Property Pages dialog box) provides a quick way to browse and search the properties that are available in the current context. It has a special search box and a simple syntax to help you filter results:

No prefix:
Search in property names only (case-insensitive substring).

'/' or '-' :
Search only in compiler switches (case-insensitive prefix)

v:
Search only in values (case-insensitive substring).

Set environment variables for a build

The MSVC compiler (cl.exe) recognizes certain environment variables, specifically LIB, LIBPATH, PATH, and INCLUDE. When you build with the IDE, the properties that are set in the VC++ Directories Property Page property page are used to set those environment variables. If LIB, LIBPATH, and INCLUDE values have already been set, for example by a Developer Command Prompt, they are replaced with the values of the corresponding MSBuild properties. The build then prepends the value of the VC++ Directories executable directories property to PATH. You can set a user-defined environment variable by created a user-defined macro and then checking the box that says Set this macro as an environment variable in the build environment.

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Set environment variables for a debugging session

In the left pane of the project's Property Pages dialog box, expand Configuration Properties and then select Debugging.

In the right pane, modify the Environment or Merge Environment project settings and then choose the OK button.

In this section

Share or reuse Visual Studio project settings
How to create a .props file with custom build settings that can be shared or reused.

Project property inheritance
Describes the order of evaluation for the .props, .targets, .vcxproj files and environment variables in the build process.

Modify properties and targets without changing the project file
How to create temporary build settings without having to modify a project file.

See also

Visual Studio Projects - C++
.vcxproj and .props file structure
Property page XML files

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