c++ - How can I target Windows 8 (not 8.1) with Visual Studio 2019? - Stack Overflow

I have created a simple C++ console application for Windows in Visual Studio 2019 and I want it to be able to run on Windows 8 (not 8.1) machines.

I have downloaded and installed the Windows 8 SDK from Microsoft's Windows SDK Archive. I can see it is clearly installed alongside the 8.1 and 10 SDKs:

Now when I go to my project properties in Visual Studio, I don't have the option to select the Windows 8 SDK:

I tried to manually enter "8.0" in the Windows SDK version and then point everything to the Windows 8 SDK directories:

But when compiling I get:

Error (active)  E1696   cannot open source file "stddef.h"
Error (active)  E1696   cannot open source file "stdio.h"
Error (active)  E1696   cannot open source file "math.h"
(...lots of similar errors...)
Error   MSB8036 The Windows SDK version 8.0 was not found. Install the required version of Windows SDK or change the SDK version in the project property pages or by right-clicking the solution and selecting "Retarget solution".

I have created a simple C++ console application for Windows in Visual Studio 2019 and I want it to be able to run on Windows 8 (not 8.1) machines.

I have downloaded and installed the Windows 8 SDK from Microsoft's Windows SDK Archive. I can see it is clearly installed alongside the 8.1 and 10 SDKs:

Now when I go to my project properties in Visual Studio, I don't have the option to select the Windows 8 SDK:

I tried to manually enter "8.0" in the Windows SDK version and then point everything to the Windows 8 SDK directories:

But when compiling I get:

Error (active)  E1696   cannot open source file "stddef.h"
Error (active)  E1696   cannot open source file "stdio.h"
Error (active)  E1696   cannot open source file "math.h"
(...lots of similar errors...)
Error   MSB8036 The Windows SDK version 8.0 was not found. Install the required version of Windows SDK or change the SDK version in the project property pages or by right-clicking the solution and selecting "Retarget solution".

• c++
• windows
• visual-studio
• visual-studio-2019

Share Follow asked Mar 8 at 20:41 cdontscdonts 9,64155 gold badges5252 silver badges7878 bronze badges 5

• 1 You probably don't need to, anything built with the current visual studio will work down to windows 7 unless you're explicitly using windows 10+ features – Alan Birtles Commented Mar 8 at 20:50
• it doesn't matter what version of SDK you use. you can use the latest version of SDK when compiling and linking, and still run the code on xp. it only matters what api. you use. if you want the code to work on win8 you should use only the api available on this version. the version of the sdk doesn't matter (if it's not too old) – RbMm Commented Mar 8 at 20:51
• @RbMm the standard vs toolset doesn't support xp – Alan Birtles Commented Mar 8 at 21:03
• @AlanBirtles RbMm You were right. Should have tested the app before asking. Thanks – cdonts Commented Mar 8 at 21:21
• @AlanBirtles support. I can without any problem build exe/dll with latest sdk/vs toolset and it will be run on xp. Note that i say about sdk but not crt – RbMm Commented Mar 8 at 22:16

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1 Answer 1

Sorted by: Reset to default 3

You don't need to install old Windows SDKs. It's good enough to have the latest one installed that supports targets since Windows 7.

Instead of selecting a Windows SDK Version, you should specify the target platform with macros in C/C++ -> Preprocessor:

WINVER=0x0602
_WIN32_WINNT=0x0602

When you use the Windows SDK, you can specify which versions of Windows your code can run on. The preprocessor macros WINVER and _WIN32_WINNT specify the minimum operating system version your code supports. Visual Studio and the Microsoft C++ compiler support targeting Windows 7 SP1 and later.