How do I call Visual Studio 2017 RC's version of MSBuild from a BAT file?

Question

Earlier versions of MSBuild could be found here: %programfiles(x86)%\\msbuild\\\\bin\\msbuild.exe.

But for Visual Studio 2017RC the path

Answer 1

Now that VS 2017 has been released, thought it might be useful to add my 2 cents:

Creating a batch file:

Open Notepad

Copy the following and paste into notepad, replacing the solution you want to build with [My Solution Name Here]:

@echo off

:variables
SET msBuildLocation="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\msbuild.exe"
SET solutionDirectory=[My Solution Location Here]
SET batchFileLocation=[BatchFileLocation Here]

cd %solutionDirectory%

echo Building MS files for [My Solution Name Here].

call %msBuildLocation% [My Solution Name].sln /p:Configuration=Debug /m:4 /v:M /fl /flp:LogFile=msbuild.log;Verbosity=Normal /nr:false  /consoleloggerparameters:Summary;ShowTimestamp;ShowEventId;PerformanceSummary
echo -
echo --------Done building [My solution name here].--------------
echo -

cd %batchFileLocation%

Save your batch file as whatever you want with the .bat extension. Be sure to select all files instead of .txt or else it won't work. Call the batch file by issuing the cd command where you have it saved at, and it should work. Or, just double-click. Done.

Please note that my version of visual studio is community; you'll need to replace the path with the appropriate version.

Answer 2

I also run the build tools from a bat file on my CI server: The new location I've found is this:

%programfiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\BuildTools\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\msbuild.exe

Answer 3

Microsoft have created a tool to find the location of Visual Studio 2017 and newer https://github.com/Microsoft/vswhere

That option and newer are decribed in this blog post.

Answer 4

If you have installed the .NET Core tools preview 3 or later, the dotnet CLI should be available on the %PATH% by default (even if you're not building a .NET Core project), so you could try dotnet msbuild. Ref https://github.com/dotnet/docs/blob/master/docs/core/preview3/tools/dotnet-msbuild.md

Answer 5

I maintain a very simple PowerShell script (gist) to run CI/CLI builds with properly configured Visual Studio environment variables. It uses vswhere.exe and VsDevCmd.bat. It works well on build agents as a part of Azure DevOps pipelines. Particularly for C++ projects, it's vital to set INCLUDE and LIB properly, that's what VsDevCmd.bat does.

E.g, run a build with MSBuild for the solution in the current folder:

powershell -f _invoke-build.ps1 -buildCommand "msbuild ."

Copy VS' INCLUDE environment variable into clipboard (for fun):

powershell -f _invoke-build.ps1 -buildCommand "set INCLUDE | clip"

The current version of the script:

<#
  .Synopsis
    Find Visual Studio and run its VsDevCmd.bat, then run a build command.

  .Example
    powershell -f _invoke-build.ps1 -buildCommand "msbuild ."

  .Link
    https://gist.github.com/noseratio/843bb4d9c410c42081fac9d8b7a33b5e
#>

#Requires -Version 5.0
# by @noseratio

param([Parameter(Mandatory = $true)] [string] $buildCommand)
Set-StrictMode -Version Latest
$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

echo "Building via '$buildCommand' ..."

$vs_not_found = "Visual Studio hasn't been detected!"

$vswhere = "${env:ProgramFiles(x86)}/Microsoft Visual Studio/Installer/vswhere.exe"
if (!(Test-Path $vswhere)) { throw $vs_not_found }

$vs_ide_path = $(& $vswhere -format value -property productPath)
if (!(Test-Path $vs_ide_path)) { throw $vs_not_found }

$vs_ide_folder = "$(Split-Path $vs_ide_path)"
$vs_dev_cmd = "$vs_ide_folder/../Tools/VsDevCmd.bat"
$invoke = "call ""$vs_dev_cmd"" && cd ""$pwd"" && $buildCommand"

# we need to run via CMD for proper propagation of Visual Studio environment vars
& $env:comspec /s /c ""$invoke""
if (!$?) { throw "Failed with error code: $LastExitCode" }

Answer 6

Simplest way...

• Install the Build Tools https://www.visualstudio.com/thank-you-downloading-visual-studio/?sku=BuildTools&rel=15

• Profit; the build tools will install to a separate location thats standard across everywhere you install it regardless of your VS SKU (professional / enterprise / community all install to different paths)
• New location C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\BuildTools\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\msbuild.exe