option to import vsconfig file not present when installing build tools through vs_BuildTools.exe

Question

option to import vsconfig file not present when installing build tools through vs_BuildTools.exe

aman sahay 30

We are working on a cross platform software build on c++ ; cmake used for Build system setup.
We were exploring regarding setup of pipeline machines through python script. Hence were exploring regarding the possibility of vs_BuildTools.exe being installed through command line without prompts . we have a vsconfig file which was previously used with Build tools on current setup of pipeline machines. But with current vs_BuildTools.exe the option to import vsconfig is not coming,

So the only option on first install is by installing the default vs_BuildTools.
Interesting observation regarding this would be that after installing the build tools we are able to import the vsconfig and then perform the complete installtion.

from command line point of view the desired install is only happening after running both of these commands in this order (ideally it should only happen by running the second command)

./vs_BuildTools.exe --installPath D:\VS_Install --passive

./vs_BuildTools.exe --installPath D:\VS_Install --passive --config "C:\Users\aman.sahay\Downloads\build_tools.vsconfig"

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Answer 1

Tianyu Sun-MSFT 34,681 Microsoft External Staff

Hello @aman sahay,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

I tested locally, it seems that by directly using the second command, the installation succeeded and the .vsconfig file was imported correctly. Is it possible for you to test locally on your side and confirm that it works on your local machine?

The command looks correct. Can you also kindly confirm that this issue isn’t caused by other settings in the script?

If you use --quiet argument, instead of --passive argument, will it work?

Besides, if you don’t use the previously used .vsconfig file, but try to create a new simple .vsconfig file without adding many workloads and components, just for test, will this simple .vsconfig file work? If it still doesn’t work, could you share us this newly created simple .vsconfig file for further check?

Best Regards,

Tianyu

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aman sahay 30 Reputation points

2024-08-22T05:39:21.7433333+00:00

I have run the command on my local machine , when I run it the second command directly , after updating the vs installer , the operation just crashes and the installation of the build tools does not happen, The reason I am assuming is as it is not able to work with the .vsconfig files in general.

I know that my vsconfig file is not wrong because I have locally run the command
./vs_BuildTools.exe --installPath D:\VS_Install --passive
(which installs the build tools only and not the rest of the stuff we require)
when after this I run
./vs_BuildTools.exe --installPath D:\VS_Install --passive --config "C:\Users\aman.sahay\Downloads\build_tools.vsconfig"
it then installs all that we require so the vsconfig file is correct.

Currently am exploring from command line only , have not put these commands in script.

Have tested with using --quiet in place of passive it is still crashing as usual. the --config is not working when I am trying to fresh install Build tools, but does work when a installation is present on the machine (this is consistent with the installer GUI not giving option to import vsconfig file on fresh install but does give import when seeing in installer after install of build tools)

as I am not able to attach my vsconfig file am putting its content here
{

"version": "1.0",

"components": [

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Roslyn.Compiler",

"Microsoft.Component.MSBuild",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.CoreBuildTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.MSBuildTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CoreBuildTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.x86.x64",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Redist.14.Latest",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.22621",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CMake.Project",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.TestTools.BuildTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATL",

"Microsoft.Net.Component.4.8.SDK",

"Microsoft.Net.Component.4.7.2.TargetingPack",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ASAN",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.TextTemplating",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CoreIde",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.NativeDesktop.Core",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.22000",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.19041",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.VCTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.TypeScript.TSServer",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.NuGet",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.ARM64EC",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.UWP.VC.ARM64EC",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.ARM64",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.UWP.VC.ARM64",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.ARM",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Roslyn.LanguageServices"

],

"extensions": []

}

have tested by creating a mimimal sample.vsconfig ; it is crashing for that also .
its content are as follows:
{

"version": "1.0",

"components": [

],

"extensions": []

}

aman sahay 30

re-adding my comment as it not showing here after submitting .
currently I am trying all commands through command line only (will put in script once behavior is correct).

have tested on my local when I run the command with --config directly on a machine with no build tools installed , the vs installer update opens and after updating it does not install instead it just crashes.

have tested with --quiet instead of --passive.

content of our current vsconfig file is as follows
{

"version": "1.0",

"components": [

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Roslyn.Compiler",

"Microsoft.Component.MSBuild",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.CoreBuildTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.MSBuildTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CoreBuildTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.x86.x64",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Redist.14.Latest",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.22621",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CMake.Project",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.TestTools.BuildTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATL",

"Microsoft.Net.Component.4.8.SDK",

"Microsoft.Net.Component.4.7.2.TargetingPack",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ASAN",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.TextTemplating",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CoreIde",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.NativeDesktop.Core",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.22000",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.19041",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.VCTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.TypeScript.TSServer",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.NuGet",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.ARM64EC",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.UWP.VC.ARM64EC",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.ARM64",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.UWP.VC.ARM64",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.ARM",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Roslyn.LanguageServices"

],

"extensions": []

}

have tested with a new sample.vsconfig file , it is still crashing also
content of it is
{

"version": "1.0",

"components": [

],

"extensions": []

}

aman sahay 30

currently I am trying all commands through command line only

(will put in script once behavior is correct).

have tested on my local when I run the command with second command directly

(on a machine which does not have a vs build tools installed )

it crashes (after updating installer).

have tested with --quiet instead of --passive.

content of our current vsconfig file is as follows

{

"version": "1.0",

"components": [

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Roslyn.Compiler",

"Microsoft.Component.MSBuild",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.CoreBuildTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.MSBuildTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CoreBuildTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.x86.x64",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Redist.14.Latest",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.22621",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CMake.Project",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.TestTools.BuildTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATL",

"Microsoft.Net.Component.4.8.SDK",

"Microsoft.Net.Component.4.7.2.TargetingPack",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ASAN",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.TextTemplating",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CoreIde",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.ComponentGroup.NativeDesktop.Core",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows11SDK.22000",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Windows10SDK.19041",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.VCTools",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.TypeScript.TSServer",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.NuGet",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.ARM64EC",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.UWP.VC.ARM64EC",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.ARM64",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.UWP.VC.ARM64",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.ARM",

"Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.Roslyn.LanguageServices"

],

"extensions": []

}

I tried with sample.vsconfig file with no instances in the

json array for "components"
as follows

{

"version": "1.0",

"components": [

],

"extensions": []

}

it also crashes.
this behavior is consistent with the GUI

it also does not have import when we are doing a fresh install but does have

import option when an occurence of Build tools is also present

Tianyu Sun-MSFT 34,681 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2024-08-23T06:18:48.8733333+00:00

Hello @aman sahay,

I deployed a new machine and tested locally again, directly using the second command still worked.

Double checked the description about the --config parameter, no special or other limits.

If you put the .vsconfig file to the root directory, for example C:\build_tools.vsconfig, then run the command, will it work?

I suggest try to download and run this collect.exe tool, navigate to %Temp%(C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp) folder, search and find the file called vslogs.zip. One of the subfolders which is also called Temp, includes the log files. You can check those log files(dd_bootstrapper, dd_installer, dd_setup), see if there’s any detailed error message(share the error message here for further check if possible).

Besides, I am thinking whether there are some limitations on your machine. Is it possible for you to try to test again on another machine which is not managed by your company/administrator?

Feel free to let us know the results :)

Regards,

Tianyu

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option to import vsconfig file not present when installing build tools through vs_BuildTools.exe

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