Visual Studio can't build due to rc.exe

问题:

I've searched online and couldn't find anything that resembled to my issue.

I created an empty C++ project and added a main.cpp with a return and I can't get it to build. Here is the message I receive :

1>------ Build started: Project: Project1, Configuration: Debug Win32 ------ 1>LINK : fatal error LNK1158: cannot run 'rc.exe' ========== Build: 0 succeeded, 1 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped ========== 

Is there somewhere within VS2012 where I can specify where to find this executable? I have installed the Windows 7 SDK and I have this executable at:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0\Bin 

I come from Code::Blocks and using mingw-gcc without any trouble, but lately I've been needing VS for managed implementations so I hope someone has an idea.

回答1:

Found this on Google... I would assume that in your case you would copy rc.exe and rcdll.dll to visual studio 2012\vc\bin or wherever you have it installed:

Part 2: FIX LINK : fatal error LNK1158: cannot run ‘rc.exe’

Add this to your PATH environment variables:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\bin\x86

Copy these files:

rc.exe
rcdll.dll

From

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\bin\x86

To

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\VC\bin

Or I also found this:
Microsoft left a few things out of their MSVT package. Since no one knows whether they were left out by mistake or for license reasons, no one with MSVC is too interested in giving them out. A few Google searches turn up some tricky sources. Fortunately, Microsoft has finally wised up and solved this problem and many more.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/support/faq/default.aspx#pricing

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/support/install/

A good amount of MSVT missing files are there but the missing SDK files aren't.

and this:
I had the same problem which I solved by doing this:

1. Installing the Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0
2. Adding the path of the .NET Framework files (for me "C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727") to Global compiler settings > Programs > Additional Paths within Code::Blocks.

Now I can build and link resource files without errors.

回答2:

From what I have found, if you have a windows 7 OS, doing the following steps will fix the problem:

1) go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1A\Bin

2) then copy RC.exe and RcDll from this file

3) go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\bin and paste the two files you have copied into it.

I had the same problem, and the above posted solution did not work. My solution was derived from it, and it worked for me, if the ones above do not work you can give this one a try.

回答3:

We hit this issue with our CMake/Visual Studio 2015 builds after also installing VS2017 on the machine. The correct solution in our case is to specify the Window Kit version (8.1) to the Visual Studio Command Prompt - otherwise you get the Windows 10 Kit by default which doesn't include rc.exe in the bin directory.

e.g. Start Menu->Visual Studio 2015->VS2015 x64 Native Tools Command Prompt

%comspec% /k "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" amd64 8.1 

Note the 8.1 option on the end

回答4:

In my case, I had a mix and match error between projects created in VS2015 and VS2017. In my .vcxproj file, there's this section called PropertyGroup Label="Globals">. I had a section for TargetPlatformVersion=10.0.15063.0. When I removed the TargetPlatformVersion, that solved the problem.

Sorry I can't copy and paste the block here, but stackoverflows coding format did not allow that.

回答5:

If you have Visual Studio 2017, and you installed Build Tools 2015 without selecting to install its own 2015 Windows SDK (default installation does not install it!), and are trying to use it to compile, you may run into this problem.

I read something saying that the VS2015 14.0 C++ compiler can glitch if it tries to use the Windows 10 SDK from Visual Studio 2017.

In my case, I already had Visual Studio 2017. When I tried to use Build Tools 2015 to compile a python library (or probably any program), this same 'rc.exe' error popped. I uninstalled Build Tools 2015, and reinstalled it, this time as a custom installation, selecting to install both visual C++ and Windows 10 SDK components. This fixed the issue.

If anything, I think this indicates this 'rc.exe' error can easily pop up if the Visual C++ compiler and the Windows 10 SDK versions don't correspond to the same Visual Studio year, apparently.

回答6:

This might be a little outdated. But if copying the rc.exe and exdll.dll did not work, there is a chance that the windows sdk is not installed properly even if the windows sdk folder exists. You can update the sdk for win 8 in the following page: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/hardware/hh852363 After re-installing the sdk, the problem would get solved. Also make sure that platform toolset is set properly.

回答7:

Here is my almost similar case:
I have VC2010 working project under Win7 32bit. I make clean install of VC2013 under Win8.1 64bit After successful converting of my project from VC2010 to VC2013, during 1st compilation the following error rise:
Finished generating code
LINK : fatal error LNK1158: cannot run 'rc.exe'

Solution 1:
Delete whole line “<ExecutablePath Condition=”...”>...</ExecutablePath>” in element “<PropertyGroup>” in NameOfYourSolution.vcxproj file in notepad before to run VC2013
Solution 2:
Copy only two files: rc.exe and rcdll.dll from “c:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\bin\x86\” to “c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\bin\” and compilation will be successful!!
Note:
a)It is not need to touch any PATH or other Windows or VC environment variables.

回答8:

In my case the error was due to a bad setting in a vcxproj. The vcxproj was from a third party, so I'm not sure how it got in that state.

Specifically, for one of the platform/profile combos, the platform folder was missing from the Windows SDK bin folder:

<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'">  <ExecutablePath>$(VCInstallDir)bin\x86_amd64;$(VCInstallDir)bin;$(WindowsSdkDir)bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools;$(WindowsSdkDir)bin\x86; 

is correct, where

<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'">  <ExecutablePath>$(VCInstallDir)bin\x86_amd64;$(VCInstallDir)bin;$(WindowsSdkDir)bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools;$(WindowsSdkDir)bin; 

was incorrect. Might need to scroll to the end of the code boxes to see the difference.

Note also, that for some strange reason $(WindowsSdkDir)bin\x64; did NOT work for me. Tried to figure out why, when rc.exe definitely exists in that folder, but I gave up.

In my opinion, the solutions from previous posters that involve copying rc.exe all over the place are wrong, because your project will not work on anyone else's machine. If you fix up the paths in the project correctly, it should work on any machine with a correct installation of the Windows SDK.

回答9:

I'm on Windows 7 x64 and Visual Studio 2017. I get this error trying to compile a cython script. That's how I solved: I copied and pasted rc.exe and rcdll.dll from:

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

to

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\bin\x86_amd64 

回答10:

I had the same problem on VS 2013 and was able to fix it by changing the Platform Toolset.

You can find it in project settings, general.

E.g. switching Platform Toolset to VS 2010 will cause VS to use the Windows\v7.0A SDK.

You can check which SDK path is used by adding this to your prebuild event:

echo using SDK $(WindowsSdkDir) 

回答11:

I'm using Windows 7 with VS 2013 (Update 3) and Intel Parallel Studio XE Composer Edition for Fortran Windows (Update 5). Out of the box I had the same issue.

Once I fixed the missing rc.exe problem I had another issue. The linker was missing kernel32.lib.

I corrected both issues by updating the Intel Composer Options (TOOLS->Options...->Intel Composer XE->Visual Fortran->Compilers).

For the Win32 tab I added:

Executables: C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\bin\x86; (just before $(PATH))

Libraries: C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Lib\win8\um\x86; (at the end)

For the x64 tab I added:

Executables: C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\bin\x64; (just before $(PATH))

Libraries: C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Lib\win8\um\x64; (at the end)

Update...

I was also missing some SDK header files (winver.h and winapifamily.h). I added the following to the same TOOLS->Options... area.

For both the win32 and x64 tabs

Includes: C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Include\um;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Include\shared;

回答12:

I just figured out one (out of the 3 in total) projects in my VS2010 (SDK7.1) solution (projects are linked in a sequential linear dependency chain), had a .rc file in the project files that was empty. Removing the empty .rc file (from the project, without deleting it) solved the "fatal error LNK1158: ... cvtres.exe" problem.

Update: The following copy fixed the problem:

xcopy "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\bin\cvtres.exe" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\bin\x86_amd64\" 

This will enable WinSDK7.1, via MSBuild, to be able to compile .rc files into the executables.

回答13:

This can be caused by a vcxproj that originated in previous versions of Visual Studio OR changing the Platform Toolset in Configuration Properties -> General.

If so, possible Solution:

1) Go to Configuration Properties -> VC++ Directories

2) Select drop down for Executable Directories

3) Select "Inherit from parent or Project Defaults"

回答14:

This is even easier than that with Visual Studio 2017. Follow these instructions: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/modify-visual-studio to modify using Microsoft Visual Studio Installer.

Once inside the Microsoft Visual Studio Installer, click modify under your installed Visual Studio package, make sure the Desktop development with C++ is checked, and the MFC and ATl support (x86 and x64), under summary.

回答15:

I'm on Windows 10 x64 and Visual Studio 2017. I copied and pasted rc.exe and rcdll.dll from:

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

to

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\bin\amd64 

it's works with: ( qt creator 5.7.1)

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