Can I download the Visual C++ Command Line Compiler without Visual Studio?

c++ winapi visual-c++
magnus picture magnus · Mar 10, 2014 · Viewed 69.9k times · Source

As per the title. I don't want to download the entire Visual C++ installer, only "cl.exe" and the other programs required for compiling and linking C++ programs on Windows.

Answer

Cheers and hth. - Alf picture Cheers and hth. - Alf · Mar 10, 2014

In 2014 you could not download the Visual C++ compiler alone from Microsoft.

It used to be that you could. Then it used to be that you could get it in the Platform SDK. Then you could only get it by installing Visual Studio.

Happily, at that time, the compiler that was bundled with Visual Studio Express for Desktop (the free version of Visual Studio at the time) was, and is, the very same that you get with Professional or Universal editions.

In November 2015 Microsoft again started providing the compiler tools in a free-standing package called the Visual C++ Build Tools.

Microsoft writes:

” the C++ Build Tools installer will not run on a machine with Visual Studio 2015 already installed on it. The reverse (i.e. upgrade to Visual Studio) is supported.

The long term situation is, as always, unclear. And, disclaimer: I have not used the build tools myself – I would have to uninstall Visual Studio first.

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