rc.exe no longer found in VS 2015 Command Prompt

Question

I just installed Windows 10 Creators Update (version 10.0.15063).

I have multiple versions of Visual Studio installed (2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017). I installed VS 2017 only a couple weeks ago.

Problem

CMake (version 3.8.1) no longer finds the C/C++ compiler when run inside a "VS2015 x64 Native Command Prompt" (it does work properly when run inside a VS 2017 command prompt).

Reproduction

Content of CMakeLists.txt:

project (test)
add_executable (test test.cpp)

(Content of test.cpp is irrelevant.)

CMake invocation, in a VS2015 x64 Native Command Prompt:

> mkdir build
> cd build
> cmake -G "Visual Studio 14 2015 Win64" ..

CMake output:

-- The C compiler identification is unknown
-- The CXX compiler identification is unknown
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:1 (project):
  No CMAKE_C_COMPILER could be found.

CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:1 (project):
  No CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER could be found.

-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
See also "D:/dev/cmaketest/build/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log".
See also "D:/dev/cmaketest/build/CMakeFiles/CMakeError.log".

Analysis

The reason of the failure is clear when looking at CMakeFiles/CMakeError.log:

ClCompile:
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\bin\x86_amd64\CL.exe /c /nologo /W0 /WX- /Od /D _MBCS /Gm- /EHsc /RTC1 /MDd /GS /fp:precise /Zc:wchar_t /Zc:forScope /Zc:inline /Fo"Debug\\" /Fd"Debug\vc140.pdb" /Gd /TC /errorReport:queue CMakeCCompilerId.c
  CMakeCCompilerId.c
Link:
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\bin\x86_amd64\link.exe /ERRORREPORT:QUEUE /OUT:".\CompilerIdC.exe" /INCREMENTAL:NO /NOLOGO kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib uuid.lib odbc32.lib odbccp32.lib /MANIFEST /MANIFESTUAC:"level='asInvoker' uiAccess='false'" /manifest:embed /PDB:".\CompilerIdC.pdb" /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE /TLBID:1 /DYNAMICBASE /NXCOMPAT /IMPLIB:".\CompilerIdC.lib" /MACHINE:X64 Debug\CMakeCCompilerId.obj
LINK : fatal error LNK1158: cannot run 'rc.exe' [D:\dev\cmaketest\build\CMakeFiles\3.8.1\CompilerIdC\CompilerIdC.vcxproj]

rc.exe (Resource Compiler) is not found. Indeed, in the same VS 2015 command prompt:

> where rc.exe
INFO: Could not find files for the given pattern(s).

While it is found in a VS 2013 command prompt:

> where rc.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\bin\x64\rc.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\bin\x86\rc.exe

and a VS 2017 command prompt:

> where rc.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.15063.0\x64\rc.exe

Checking the content of the PATH environment variables in various VS command prompts:

• Inside a VS 2013 command prompt, PATH contains

  C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\bin\x64
  

• Inside a VS 2017 command prompt, PATH contains

  C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x64
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.15063.0\x64
  

• But inside a VS 2015 command prompt, PATH only contains

  C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x64
  

  which does not contain rc.exe.

Questions

1. Is this a known issue or is it specific to my system?

2. What could Windows 10 Creators Update possibly install, uninstall or alter in the system (perhaps something related to Windows SDKs) that would trigger this problem?

3. What is a clean way to resolve this?

Edit: Installed VS 2017 components:

Answer 1

Similar problem with VS2017 Community 15.4.5 with Windows Sdk version 10.0.16299.0, but only for builds via TeamCity; builds from within VS work fine and so does building with MSBuild when starting from a VS developer command prompt. So this does not exactly answer the OP's question, but is so similar and this is one of the first search matches so I'll add it here.

Found a solution which does not require modifying the installation in any way (no linking/copying so less error-prone and easy to automate):

set the VisualStudioVersion environment variable to 15.0.

You could do this globally using the standard Windows gui for that (example for windows 10 here) but I'd rather strongly advise against it becaus it could interfere with other versions of VS, moreover it is not a change which is easily automated nor checked in into your build code and hence harder to reproduce omn different machines. A better alternative is to set this in the commandline where the build runs (cmd: set VisualStudioVersion=15.0 PS: $env:VisualStudioVersion = '15.0' in TeamCity: add env.VisualStudioVersion Parameter). Another alternative is to pass this directory to MSBuild as a property (pass /p:VisualStudioVersion=15.0 or in teamCity add system.VisualStudioVersion).

Answer 2

1. run your online installer vs_community2017.exe.
2. select modify your VS2017
3. select desktop development with C++
4. select Windows 10 SDK(my version is 10.0.10586) and install it

Run VS2015 command prompt:

> where rc
> C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x64\rc.exe
> C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x86\rc.exe

It seems that vs2017 default installs the newest SDK, and Overwrite old versions.

Answer 3

I had the exact same problem. Multiple Visual studio versions, including 2015 and 2017. My solution was to run the cmake command from 2017 developer command prompt, and specify the 2015 visual studio version with:

cmake -G "Visual Studio 14 2015" ..

Answer 4

Open "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\Tools\VsDevCmd.bat" in a text editor in administrator mode and change the line

@if not "%WindowsSdkDir%" == "" @set PATH=%WindowsSdkDir%bin\x86;%PATH%

to

@if not "%WindowsSdkDir%" == "" @set PATH=%WindowsSdkDir%bin\x86;%WindowsSdkDir%bin\%WindowsSDKVersion%x86;%PATH%