VC++ compilers in Windows 7 SDK

The newly released Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1: BETA is available on the Microsoft Download Center with updated VC++ compilers. The Windows 7 SDK includes the Enterprise versions of the VS 2008 SP1 (v9.0) compilers and runtimes, which come from the Visual C++ team.

Compilers installed by default

 Platform/Processor Architecture

X86 Native Compiler

X64 Native Compiler

IA64 Native Compiler

X64 Cross Compiler

IA64 Cross Compiler

X86

x

x

x

X64 (AMD64)

x

x

x

x

IA64 (Itanium)

x

X

x

x

When using the Windows SDK build environment, the native compilers will be the primary compiler used on any given computer, although the cross compilers are installed on all three platforms.

During Windows SDK setup you may find that the VC++ compiler package is grayed out on the Windows SDK Setup Options Screen. If you already have Visual Studio 2008 SP1 installed on your computer, the Windows SDK build environment will share your existing compilers component with Visual Studio 2008, and will not install an additional compiler package.