vcpkg vcpkg install error:in triplet x64-windows: Unable to find a valid Visual Studio instance Could not locate a complete Visual Studio instance

Describe the bug A clear and concise description of what the bug is. When using vcpkg install, an error occurred: in triplet x64-windows: Unable to find a valid Visual Studio instance Could not locate a complete Visual Studio instance

Environment

OS: Windows10,x86_64
Compiler: Visual Studio Code

To Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior:

.\vcpkg install thrift
See error Error: in triplet x86-windows: Unable to find a valid Visual Studio instance Could not locate a complete Visual Studio instance

Dec 18 '21 07:12 Ssspade

Hi! I'm facing the same issue in a similar environment, trying to install any package. Some comments:

Visual Studio Code is not a compiler. It is an editor that accepts a lot of extensions, enabling among many other features compiling and debugging.
I don't know if Visual Studio Code could be considered "a complete Visual Studio instance" as the error message reads.
Messages available from Visual Studio Code error link to https://vcpkg.io/en/index.html and propose the use of vcpkg to install libraries for lacking headers.
Thus, I guess we are missing some step in the installation process.

Please, should modify the triplet x86-windows.cmake? How? Should we create a new one? I don't even know for that triplet if we are working in a 64bits environment.

Please, should we install and configure CMake?

Sorry, I'm a bit lost. Thanks for your help!

Dec 18 '21 18:12 rrodrigueznt

Visua lStudio Installer->installed version->modify-> Language package->add English package, can resolve this problem

Jan 07 '22 12:01 duzp

Is this issue resolved?

Jan 13 '22 06:01 JackBoosY

I am having a similar problem. "Could not locate a complete Visual Studio instance" although it is installed. I tried to use vcpkg to install catch2. English langauge package is already installed... Any other suggestions how to resolve this? I hope it is fine I write here, I think it is the same issue...

Jan 13 '22 14:01 IJkb

@IJkb See https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg-tool/pull/314.

Jan 13 '22 16:01 JackBoosY

I have the same problem, I use VS CODE to compile, but now there is a problem with installing the egin3 pakage.

Jan 26 '22 08:01 KevinShu-AEUST

@KevinShu-AEUST Please see the required Visual Studio components in https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg-tool/pull/314.

Jan 26 '22 08:01 JackBoosY

@KevinShu-AEUST請在microsoft/vcpkg-tool#314中查看需要的Visual Studio組件。

sorry,I don't understand the solution for this post.

Jan 26 '22 09:01 KevinShu-AEUST

你可以使用這個簡單的工具來了解你的機器上的 VS 實例，你的 SDK

I should to download pkg --mgr.exe 嗎？

Jan 26 '22 10:01 KevinShu-AEUST

@KevinShu-AEUST Sorry, I don't quite understand your question! Sorry, I don't know the relevant cmd commands very well, and I'm still researching.

Jan 26 '22 10:01 KevinShu-AEUST

Please use Visual Studio Installer to install the following Visual Studio components:

C++:

Windows Universal C Runtime: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK
C++ core desktop features: Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.NativeDesktop.Core
Visual Studio Build tools:
- Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.140 (for Visual Studio 2015)
- Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.x86.x64 (for Visual Studio 2017 or later)
MSBuild: Microsoft.Component.MSBuild
Windows SDK (one of them):
- 8.1: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows81SDK
- 10.0.18362: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.18362
- 10.0.19041: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.19041
- 10.0.20348: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.20348
- 11.0.22000: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.22000

ARM/ARM64:

Visual Studio Build tools for ARM: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.arm
Visual Studio Build tools for ARM: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.arm64

UWP:

Visual Studio Build tools for UWP: Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.UWP.VC

Edit: cmake tool in Visual Studio Installer is also needed.

Jan 27 '22 04:01 JackBoosY

Is there any solution to purely run vcpkg with the EWDK? Am not able to install VS on this machine and rely on CLion which works fine with EWDK and EWDK is sufficient to build all my projects so I would like to keep a static install out of this system.

Setting the ENV before running vcpkg doesn't work, but as far as I can tell the EWDK should have everything required to build the packages.

Error: in triplet x64-windows-static: Unable to find a valid Visual Studio instance
Could not locate a complete Visual Studio instance
The following paths were examined for Visual Studio instances:
    E:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Auxiliary/Build\vcvarsall.bat

Jan 30 '22 16:01 S0PEX

Установка английского языка помогла

Feb 02 '22 12:02 pawelkondratiev2014

@S0PEX No, currently vcpkg needs Visual Studio core desktop features.

Feb 05 '22 07:02 JackBoosY

Error: in triplet x64-windows: Unable to find a valid Visual Studio instance
Could not locate a complete Visual Studio instance
The following paths were examined for Visual Studio instances:
    C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Auxiliary/Build\vcvarsall.bat

Visual Studio is installed in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022 - I don't understand what is the problem?

Feb 21 '22 12:02 the-overdriven

Error: in triplet x64-windows: Unable to find a valid Visual Studio instance
Could not locate a complete Visual Studio instance
The following paths were examined for Visual Studio instances:
    C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Auxiliary/Build\vcvarsall.bat

Visual Studio is installed in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022 - I don't understand what is the problem?

Can you please view my comment and have a try?

Thanks.

Feb 22 '22 01:02 JackBoosY

I found a solution for me installing the C++ visual studio toolchain onto my C drive worked though it doesn't work when I install Visual studio on my E drive.

Mar 03 '22 20:03 nikinov

@nikinov Installing Visual Studio to a non-system disk doesn't affect vcpkg, maybe because of a problem with its environment variable settings.

Mar 04 '22 02:03 JackBoosY

Same prob here :(

Mar 16 '22 12:03 HaifaBenHsouna

@HaifaBenHsouna See the required Visual Studio components in https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg/issues/22074#issuecomment-1022840591.

Mar 17 '22 03:03 JackBoosY

Please use Visual Studio Installer to install the following Visual Studio components:

1. C++:


* Windows Universal C Runtime: `Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK`

* C++ core desktop features: `Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.NativeDesktop.Core`

* Visual Studio Build tools:
  
  * `Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.140` (for Visual Studio 2015)
  * `Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.x86.x64` (for Visual Studio 2017 or later)

* MSBuild: `Microsoft.Component.MSBuild`

* Windows SDK (one of them):
  
  * 8.1: `Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows81SDK`
  * 10.0.18362: `Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.18362`
  * 10.0.19041: `Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.19041`
  * 10.0.20348: `Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.20348`
  * 11.0.22000: `Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.22000`


2. ARM/ARM64:


* Visual Studio Build tools for ARM: `Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.arm`

* Visual Studio Build tools for ARM: `Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.arm64`


3. UWP:


* Visual Studio Build tools for UWP: `Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.UWP.VC`

Not worked with me

Mar 18 '22 06:03 emanueleriboldi

@AndroTwrpid Can you please provide the Visual Studio components list you installed and the failure output / logs?

Thanks!

Mar 18 '22 07:03 JackBoosY

@AndroTwrpid Can you please provide the Visual Studio components list you installed and the failure output / logs?

Thanks!

Sure, https://ibb.co/HpmkWQM https://ibb.co/nDT20FB

Mar 18 '22 13:03 emanueleriboldi

@JackBoosY I've got the required components from your list installed.

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "components": [
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.CoreEditor",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.CoreEditor",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Roslyn.Compiler",
    "Microsoft.Component.MSBuild",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Static.Analysis.Tools",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Roslyn.LanguageServices",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.PortableLibrary",
    "Microsoft.Net.Component.4.6.1.SDK",
    "Microsoft.Net.Component.4.6.1.TargetingPack",
    "Microsoft.Net.ComponentGroup.DevelopmentPrerequisites",
    "Microsoft.Component.ClickOnce",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.SQL.CLR",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VisualStudioData",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.TextTemplating",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.ManagedDesktop.Core",
    "Microsoft.Net.Component.4.5.TargetingPack",
    "Microsoft.Net.Component.4.5.2.TargetingPack",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Debugger.JustInTime",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.NuGet",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.FSharp",
    "Microsoft.Net.Core.Component.SDK.2.1",
    "Microsoft.NetCore.ComponentGroup.DevelopmentTools.2.1",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.IISExpress",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.TypeScript.3.1",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.WebToolsExtensions",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.JavaScript.TypeScript",
    "Component.WebSocket",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.JavaScript.Diagnostics",
    "Component.Microsoft.VisualStudio.RazorExtension",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.SQL.ADAL",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.SQL.NCLI",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.SQL.LocalDB.Runtime",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Common.Azure.Tools",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.SQL.CMDUtils",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.SQL.SSDT",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.SQL.DataSources",
    "Component.Microsoft.Web.LibraryManager",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.Web",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.DockerTools.BuildTools",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.DockerTools",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CoreIde",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Redist.14.Latest",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.NativeDesktop.Core",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.x86.x64",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Graphics.Win81",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Graphics.Tools",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.DiagnosticTools",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATL",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.TestAdapterForBoostTest",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.TestAdapterForGoogleTest",
    "Microsoft.Component.VC.Runtime.UCRTSDK",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows81SDK",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.NativeDesktop.Win81",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATLMFC",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.17134",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.FSharp.WebTemplates",
    "Microsoft.NetCore.ComponentGroup.Web.2.1",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.TestTools.Core",
    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NetCoreTools"
  ]
}

Running vcpkg install from inside the actual x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2017, it still complains it can't find it lol:

C:\Users\kwu\repos\vcpkg>vcpkg install aws-sdk-cpp[s3,sqs]:x64-windows-static-vc141
Computing installation plan...
The following packages will be built and installed:
  * aws-c-auth[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 0.6.3#2
  * aws-c-cal[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 0.5.12#2
  * aws-c-common[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 0.6.9#2
  * aws-c-compression[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 0.2.14#2
  * aws-c-event-stream[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 0.2.7#2
  * aws-c-http[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 0.6.5#2
  * aws-c-io[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 0.10.7#2
  * aws-c-mqtt[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 0.7.6#3
  * aws-c-s3[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 0.1.25#2
  * aws-checksums[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 0.1.11#3
  * aws-crt-cpp[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 0.15.1#3
    aws-sdk-cpp[core,dynamodb,kinesis,s3,sqs]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 1.9.160#1
  * openssl[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 1.1.1n
  * vcpkg-cmake[core]:x64-windows -> 2022-01-19
  * vcpkg-cmake-config[core]:x64-windows -> 2022-02-06
  * zlib[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 1.2.11#13
Additional packages (*) will be modified to complete this operation.
Detecting compiler hash for triplet x64-windows...
Error: in triplet x64-windows-static-vc141: Unable to find a valid Visual Studio instance
    with toolset version vc141
The following Visual Studio instances were considered:
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional
The following paths were examined for Visual Studio instances:
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional\VC\Auxiliary/Build\vcvarsall.bat
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional\VC\Tools/MSVC\14.29.30037\bin/HostX86/x86\dumpbin.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional\VC\Tools/MSVC\14.16.27023\bin/HostX86/x86\dumpbin.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\VC\Auxiliary/Build\vcvarsall.bat
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\VC\Tools/MSVC\14.16.27023\bin/HostX86/x86\dumpbin.exe

C:\Users\kwu\repos\vcpkg>dir "c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat"
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is 7655-EC2B

 Directory of c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\VC\Auxiliary\Build

07/01/2021  07:40 PM             9,889 vcvarsall.bat
               1 File(s)          9,889 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  74,271,522,816 bytes free

C:\Users\kwu\repos\vcpkg>

FWIW, here's the triplet I'm using:

C:\Users\kwu\repos\vcpkg>type triplets\x64-windows-static-vc141.cmake
set(VCPKG_TARGET_ARCHITECTURE x64)
set(VCPKG_CRT_LINKAGE static)
set(VCPKG_LIBRARY_LINKAGE static)
set(VCPKG_PLATFORM_TOOLSET vc141)
C:\Users\kwu\repos\vcpkg>

And vcpkg version:

C:\Users\kwu\repos\vcpkg>git rev-parse HEAD
6f827f25f74033593aee7044f9532bf3abdf7b6b

Mar 18 '22 23:03 wuziq

Volume in drive C has no label.

@wuziq Please set a label to your system disk then try again. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/60422938/calling-dir-in-cmd-prints-out-volume-in-drive-c-has-no-label

Mar 21 '22 02:03 JackBoosY

Volume in drive C has no label.
@wuziq Please set a label to your system disk then try again. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/60422938/calling-dir-in-cmd-prints-out-volume-in-drive-c-has-no-label

Made no difference. I'd be surprised if it did!

C:\Users\kwu\repos\vcpkg>vcpkg install aws-sdk-cpp[s3,sqs]:x64-windows-static-vc141
Computing installation plan...
The following packages will be built and installed:
  * aws-c-auth[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 0.6.3#2
  * aws-c-cal[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 0.5.12#2
...
  * zlib[core]:x64-windows-static-vc141 -> 1.2.11#13
Additional packages (*) will be modified to complete this operation.
Detecting compiler hash for triplet x64-windows...
Error: in triplet x64-windows-static-vc141: Unable to find a valid Visual Studio instance
     at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional"
    with toolset version vc141
The following Visual Studio instances were considered:
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional
The following paths were examined for Visual Studio instances:
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional\VC\Auxiliary/Build\vcvarsall.bat
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional\VC\Tools/MSVC\14.29.30037\bin/HostX86/x86\dumpbin.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional\VC\Tools/MSVC\14.16.27023\bin/HostX86/x86\dumpbin.exe
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\VC\Auxiliary/Build\vcvarsall.bat
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\VC\Tools/MSVC\14.16.27023\bin/HostX86/x86\dumpbin.exe

C:\Users\kwu\repos\vcpkg>dir
 Volume in drive C is potato
 Volume Serial Number is 7655-EC2B

 Directory of C:\Users\kwu\repos\vcpkg

03/01/2022  05:23 PM    <DIR>          .
03/01/2022  05:23 PM    <DIR>          ..
03/01/2022  01:04 PM               141 .gitattributes
03/01/2022  01:04 PM    <DIR>          .github
03/01/2022  01:04 PM             5,559 .gitignore
...

Mar 21 '22 09:03 wuziq

Could you pleasee use set(VCPKG_PLATFORM_TOOLSET v141) instead of set(VCPKG_PLATFORM_TOOLSET vc141)?

Mar 23 '22 09:03 Cheney-W

Nope not environment variables

Mar 23 '22 16:03 nikinov

select and install "Visual C++ tools for CMake" in the Visual Studio Installer

Apr 15 '22 21:04 weiyao1996

@Ssspade Is this issue resolved?

Apr 18 '22 06:04 Cheney-W