5 ms·

`vswhere` is for querying a variety of information about all visual studio installs. It does far more than the "simple" problem of finding libraries.

323 5y ago
But how do you find vswhere? I have VS installed on my system, yet vswhere is not in PATH.
- Spivak 5y ago
  > vswhere is included with the installer as of Visual Studio 2017 version 15.2 and later, and can be found at the following location: %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vswhere.exe The irony is that there is absolutely no guarantee that this path is stable so in 2025 I'm sure there will be a wherevswhere.exe
  - ChrisSD 5y ago
    There is a guarantee that this path is stable: https://github.com/Microsoft/vswhere/wiki/Installing https://github.com/Microsoft/vswhere/wiki/Installing > This is a fixed location that will be maintained.
    - glandium 5y ago
      "Windows 10 will be the last Windows". Guarantees work as long as they don't change their mind.
      - ziml77 5y ago
        Find me one place where Microsoft officially documented that there would be no version of Windows past 10.
        chrismorgan 5y ago
        https://www.pcmag.com/news/windows-10-the-last-version-of-windows https://www.pcmag.com/news/windows-10-the-last-version-of-wi...: a developer evangelist said it at their Ignite conference in 2015, and a subsequent official statement by a spokesperson clarified the context of that statement in a way that strongly implied that it was indeed official policy at the time, but with the explicit caveat that it could change again (“We aren’t speaking to future branding at this time”).
        ChrisSD 5y ago
        Eh. They're basically right. Windows "11" is just rebranding. There's no reason why it couldn't have been a Windows 10 feature update, except that they wanted to drop support for older hardware.
        ziml77 5y ago
        I know this quote. It was said once and the official statement was neither a confirmation or a denial. Which makes sense because why would Microsoft want to commit themselves either way?
- ChrisSD 5y ago
  `%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer` The is true no matter where Visual Studio is installed to.
  - therein 5y ago
    Why would they store it under the "Installer" path? This is a pattern that bothers me with Microsoft software on Windows. They leave the stuff they needed to use ALSO for installer stuff in an installer directory, not under my path, not even in a place I might know of. You could have said %APPDATA%\VisualStudio\VC2932.2.1.21113412\1231231\a31\Internal\Installer and it would have been just as easy for me to find.
- sebazzz 5y ago
  You can also get it via NuGet, for your build scripts.
- urbandw311er 5y ago
  Ah, my friend, for that you need `vswherewhere`
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

323 5y ago

But how do you find vswhere? I have VS installed on my system, yet vswhere is not in PATH.

Spivak 5y ago
> vswhere is included with the installer as of Visual Studio 2017 version 15.2 and later, and can be found at the following location: %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vswhere.exe The irony is that there is absolutely no guarantee that this path is stable so in 2025 I'm sure there will be a wherevswhere.exe
- ChrisSD 5y ago
  There is a guarantee that this path is stable: https://github.com/Microsoft/vswhere/wiki/Installing https://github.com/Microsoft/vswhere/wiki/Installing > This is a fixed location that will be maintained.
  - glandium 5y ago
    "Windows 10 will be the last Windows". Guarantees work as long as they don't change their mind.
    - ziml77 5y ago
      Find me one place where Microsoft officially documented that there would be no version of Windows past 10.
      - chrismorgan 5y ago
        https://www.pcmag.com/news/windows-10-the-last-version-of-windows https://www.pcmag.com/news/windows-10-the-last-version-of-wi...: a developer evangelist said it at their Ignite conference in 2015, and a subsequent official statement by a spokesperson clarified the context of that statement in a way that strongly implied that it was indeed official policy at the time, but with the explicit caveat that it could change again (“We aren’t speaking to future branding at this time”).
        ChrisSD 5y ago
        Eh. They're basically right. Windows "11" is just rebranding. There's no reason why it couldn't have been a Windows 10 feature update, except that they wanted to drop support for older hardware.
        ziml77 5y ago
        I know this quote. It was said once and the official statement was neither a confirmation or a denial. Which makes sense because why would Microsoft want to commit themselves either way?
ChrisSD 5y ago
`%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer` The is true no matter where Visual Studio is installed to.
- therein 5y ago
  Why would they store it under the "Installer" path? This is a pattern that bothers me with Microsoft software on Windows. They leave the stuff they needed to use ALSO for installer stuff in an installer directory, not under my path, not even in a place I might know of. You could have said %APPDATA%\VisualStudio\VC2932.2.1.21113412\1231231\a31\Internal\Installer and it would have been just as easy for me to find.
sebazzz 5y ago
You can also get it via NuGet, for your build scripts.
urbandw311er 5y ago
Ah, my friend, for that you need `vswherewhere`
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]