Getting msbuild.exe without installing Visual Studio

Question

How do you get msbuild.exe without installing those crazy Visual Studio programs?

I need it for an npm install to finish working. I\'m on Windows 7 and can\'t

Answer 1

It used to be installed with the .NET framework. MsBuild v12.0 (2013) is now bundled as a stand-alone utility and has it's own installer.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=40760

To reference the location of MsBuild.exe from within an MsBuild script, use the default $(MsBuildToolsPath) property.

Answer 2

The latest (as of Jan 2019) stand-alone MSBuild installers can be found here: https://www.visualstudio.com/downloads/

Scroll down to "Tools for Visual Studio 2019" and choose "Build Tools for Visual Studio 2019" (despite the name, it's for users who don't want the full IDE)

See this question for additional information.

Answer 3

Download MSBuild with the link from @Nicodemeus answer was OK, yet the installation was broken until I've added these keys into a register:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\MSBuild\ToolsVersions\12.0]
"VCTargetsPath11"="$([MSBuild]::ValueOrDefault('$(VCTargetsPath11)','$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\\Microsoft.Cpp\\v4.0\\V110\\'))"
"VCTargetsPath"="$([MSBuild]::ValueOrDefault('$(VCTargetsPath)','$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\\Microsoft.Cpp\\v4.0\\V110\\'))"