Getting Started with Windows Development
This guide walks you through setting up a complete Windows development environment, including IDE, SDKs, and tooling.
Prerequisites
- Windows 10 (1809) or later
- Administrator rights
- Internet connection for installer downloads
1. Install Visual Studio 2022
Installation Steps
- Download the Visual Studio Installer.
- Run the installer and select the Desktop development with C++ workload.
- Optionally add the .NET desktop development workload for managed code.
- Click Install and wait for the process to complete.
vs_installer.exe --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop --quiet --wait
2. Install Windows SDK
Installation Steps
- Open Visual Studio Installer → Modify → Individual components.
- Check Windows 10 SDK (10.0.22621.0) (or latest).
- Apply changes.
winget install Microsoft.WindowsSDK -s msstore
3. Configure Environment Variables
Add the SDK tools folder to your PATH for command‑line access.
setx PATH "%PATH%;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\%WindowsSdkVersion%\x64"
4. Verify Installation
Open Developer PowerShell for VS 2022 and run:
cl /? # Should display Microsoft (R) C/C++ Optimizing Compiler version
If the version information appears, your setup is complete.