MS documentation explains how to use 2010 or 2012 toolsets in VS2013.
Does anyone know if there is also backwards support for the 2008 toolset? I am upgrading several projects from 2008 to 2013 but my team lead would like us to upgrade the project files initially but still target the same compiler/runtime as 2008.
Is this possible?
The VS2008 install on its own doesn't properly setup the toolset directory/registry. This prevents later version of VS from locating the v90 tools.
If you install the VS2010 C++ compiler toolset it will include the v90 toolset as well. After doing this I am able to build in VS2013 with the VS2008 toolset. This can be done by installing VS2010 itself or installing the Windows 7.1 SDK which includes the 2010 toolsets (v90 and v100).
Reference:
MSDN
I get the option to select VS 2008 (v90) as a Platform Toolset for my VC++ projects in VS 2013. I did nothing special (other than VS 2008 was installed when I installed VS2013).