nmake, visualstudio, and .mak files - visual-studio

I was given a C++ project that was compiled using MS Visual Studio .net 2003 C++ compiler, and a .mak file that was used to compile it. I am able to build it from the command line using nmake project.mak, but the compiler complains that afxres.h was not found. I did a little searching around and the afxres.h is in the Visual Studio directory in an includes file. Where am I supposed to specify to nmake where to look for this header file?

There should be an icon in your Start menu under Programs that opens a cmd.exe instance with all the correct MSVS environment variables set up for command line building.

Another option is running the appropriate vars batch file from a regular command prompt. The name and location varies from version to version. For VS2003, I believe it's
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Common7\Tools\vsvars32.bat

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Visual Studio Exe App compilation path change

I just want to change the exe file Visual Studio compilation path change
I am doing it like this now. i created a bat file that copied file. I have added visual studio build events. I wonder if there is an easier way.
meanwhile the exe file is being copied to the network drive
I had this problem in a different context (Elixir/Phoenix, Rust), but the root cause was the same: cl.exe could not be found during compilation.
My setup was:
Windows 10, x64
Visual Studio Community 2017 already installed, but only for C# development
For some reason the solution with installing the Visual C++ Build Tools (as #cozzamara suggested) did not work. Stops during installation with some obscure error message. Guess it did not liked my existing Visual Studio installation.
This is how I solved it:
Start up the Visual Studio Installer
Check the Desktop development with C++ (screenshots here)
Execute following command before compiling:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat
From this on the command cl.exe works. Alternatively (and more conveniently for development) start the application 'Developer Command Prompt for VS 2017' or 'x64 Native Tools Command Prompt VS 2017'.
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I solved the problem by writing code like this in the Post build field, I just ensured that the exe was copied to the field I wanted
COPY $(TargetPath) "\x.x.x.x\ortak\yakup\TestApp.exe"
pause
$(TargetPath) = It gives the location where the exe exited, along with the exe name
"C:\yakup\project\TestApp.exe" like

VB6 - After compiled getting compatibility issue on Windows 7 64bit [duplicate]

I'm using
cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98
vb6.exe /make Project1 /out %1
To basically compile my application, and I'm getting a compatibility issue (Saying doesn't work on my type of windows).
When compiling with the VB6 IDE (Make .exe) that works perfectly on my machine but this isn't, does anybody know how to fix this? Thanks
Error I receive when trying to open executable: "This version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need a x86 32-bit or a x64 64-bit version of the program, the contact the software publisher".
& It's a standard EXE application also.
I've tried running it as a administrator, trouble shooting / changing the compatibility to windows XP service pack 2 & 3, still didn't work.
Work prefer a good fix to this, like if there's anything I can do via console as a option or something or some option or anything.
Cheers! Please help ASAP
From the discussion in the comments, I believe the answer here is as follows (as identified by GSerg):
The problem is your use of the /make switch on the command line. The documentation says this about /out:
Outputs errors to a file when used with the /make or /makedll switch.
So, if you used vb6.exe /make Project1 /out Project1.exe, then Project1.exe would actually be a text file containing the error output from the compiler and thus would not be an actual executable, even though it had an .exe extension.
You actually don't specify the output binary when you use /make. The help output from running VB6.exe /? is a little more explicit:
Tells Visual Basic to compile projectname and make an executable file
from it, using the existing settings stored in the project file.
VB remembers the last filename and directory you used for compiling your project in the IDE, and it stores that in the .vbp file:
ExeName32="Project1.exe"
Path32="..\output"
I use a batch file to handle this issue. It sets the path to include both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Program Files directories. Then just reference 'vb6.exe' and the correct one will be pulled from your path.
set PATH=c:"\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\bin"
set PATH=%PATH%;c:"\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98"
set PATH=%PATH%;c:"\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\bin"
set PATH=%PATH%;c:"\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98"
vb6 /m foobar.vpb

Running vcvars32.bat before compiling in Code::Blocks?

I've installed Visual Studio C++ Express 2012 and want to use it's compiler with Code::Blocks. Starting cl.exe does not work (missing mspdb100.dll) until I run vcvars32.bat, but that does only hold on for the current session in the Command-line. The same applies to compiling with Code::Blocks.
How can I make it run the vcvars32.bat before compiling?
Workaround
That workaround is actually not what I was looking for, but it works, and that is important. Instead of letting Code::Blocks running cl.exe directly, I've set-up a simple batch-script that runs vcvars32.bat before running the actual compiler.
REM File: cl.bat
call vcvars32.bat
call cl.exe %1 %*
In the project properties, you have a section Build events. You can add vcvars32.bat to the pre-build event.
To run the .bat before compiling in Code Blocks(16.01), go to the project build options and its under the "pre/post build steps" tab. This tab only appears in the project settings, not the compiler settings.
However, adding "vcvars32.bat" (or "vcvars64.bat") to the pre build steps didn't fix the error for me.
I found the directory where the library is and added it to the linker search directories. This gave errors about further missing libraries. I added the following paths to my linker settings. These will almost certainly be different for you. I'm installed MSVS 2017 community edition. For some reason known only to Microsoft, the necessary libraries are installed on two different drives.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.12.25827\lib
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.12.25827\lib\x64
D:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Lib\10.0.16299.0\um\x64
D:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Lib\10.0.16299.0\ucrt\x64
Note that the .bat script is no longer necessary if you add these paths by hand.

VC++ cl.exe -- DLL not found

I added the bin directory of the VS2010 (not SP1) C++ compiler to my PATH variable on Windows XP. When i try to run it, it tells me that a DLL was not found.
I added this line to my PATH:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\bin;
Update: it still fails when I cd to the bin directory above, and then run the compiler
Can you help me out?
Run the VS command prompt shortcut or the batch file it points to, such as:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" x86
to set up an appropriate environment including the path.
By the way, mspdb100.dll lives in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE. But run the shortcut/batch file anyway - it does more than set up the correct path.
add Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE to your Path variable, than close cmd prompt and open it. now it will work.
Running the VS command prompt takes care of setting up the environment. Also, ensure that you are running the command prompt as an admin.
Installing Visual Studio 2010 SP1 C++ Compiler Setup fixed this issue for me. Visual Studio 2010 SP1 C++ Compiler install
I faced the same issue when I tried to run a 32 bit exe I built, on a 64 bit machine.
"mspdb100.dll couldn't be found by cl.exe "
Visual Studio 2010(the version I currently use) builds a 32 bit exe by Default.To create a 64 bit executable, just change the setting from Win32 to x64 in the dropdown box at the top of VS and build.This will build for you a 64 bit executable and solve your problem.

Visual Studio Command Prompt vs. a regular command prompt?

When I open a Visual Studio command prompt (for example, opened with menu Start -> Programs -> Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 -> Visual Studio Tools -> Visual Studio 2008 Command Prompt), I get:
Setting environment for using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 x86 tools.
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE>
What kind of tools are available, and what are the most common uses of this command prompt?
It basically just sets several of the Visual Studio binary locations into the PATH environment variable for that command window instance. This means you can use all the various commands and tools without having to include the full paths.
There's a partial list of some of the tools available on MSDN in .NET Framework Tools and Tools (.NET Framework).
The Visual Studio command prompt is a convenient way to access the command line tools that ship with the .NET Framework SDK and, if installed the, Windows Platform SDK tools.
By providing the Visual Studio command prompt, Microsoft allows you to run these tools without requiring your PATH, INCLUDE, LIB and LIBPATH environment variables to contain all the additional paths to the various folders where Visual Studio and the .NET SDK are installed. Instead, these folder references are added on the fly when you start the Visual Studio command prompt allowing you to run the tools.
For example, if you open a regular command prompt you cannot run xsd.exe without changing to the directory "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\Bin". However, in the Visual Studio command prompt you can just type xsd.exe /?, and it works.
Please see the MSDN article .NET Framework Tools for a complete list of the tools provided with Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and details on what they do.
The Visual Studio command prompt has a few tools with it. Some tools are for repairing the install of Visual Studio. One of the tools I love using is for WCF. You type wcftestclient and you get a client to test your WCF services.
The article The Visual Studio Command Prompt has a nice explanation:
Let's look at the "Visual Studio Command Prompt" in more detail.
It appears to just set the path for you and put you in (Ta Da!) the VC
directory under Visual Studio. Not even the C# directory and certainly
not the VB directory. I guess they assume that anyone who uses this
tool is really hard core and programs directly against the hard drive
with a magnifying glass and a magnet.
What it actually does is run this DOS command. (In my case.)
%comspec% /k ""C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio
10.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat"" x86
What does vcvarsall.bat do? Well, it sets the target compiler
environment so you can compile code for a different processor.
One use seems to be to call the XML Class Generator for using XSD schemas for serialization/deserialization:
XML Class Generator for C# using XSD for deserialization
Simple example
After installing Desktop development with C++ as part of the VS Installer, it installs C++ CMake tools for Windows. Let's run this cmake.exe file!
VS Developer Command Prompt
C:\Directory>cmake --version
cmake version 3.21.21080301-MSVC_2
Windows Command Prompt
C:\Directory>cmake --version
'cmake' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Why example behaves as it does
The VS Developer Command Prompt knew the command cmake, yet the Windows command prompt didn't.
Its almost as if it is and isnt a path variable - Schrodingers cat, errr path!
So where is cmake.exe that the VS developer command prompt says it knows about?
VS Developer Command Prompt
C:\Directory>where cmake
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\CMake\CMake\bin\cmake.exe
Okay so that means C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\CMake\CMake\bin\ must be a PATH variable.
Lets double check:
C:\Directory>set PATH
Path=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\CMake\CMake\bin;
It is, great. Now why didnt the windows command prompt find it?
Windows Command Prompt
C:\Directory>set PATH
Hmmm, I'm looking at the list and its not there.
Now Simon Steven's and MikeD's answer can be put in context:
It basically just sets several of the Visual Studio binary locations into the PATH environment variable for that command window instance. This means you can use all the various commands and tools without having to include the full paths.

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