Update for MSVC Build Tools 2026

[Gabgobie]

Hi,

will there be an update for the new Build Tools release?

After installing it using winget install --id Microsoft.VisualStudio.BuildTools -e and adding the necessary components in the GUI, I had the displeasure of dealing with PATH issues. Running a repair job in the Visual Studio Installer GUI and rebooting didn't fix the issue. The bin folder you suggested we add to our PATH doesn't seem to exist in the new release. Another thing to note is that they seem to have changed the folder naming scheme considering that it was installed to MVS\18 instead of MVS\2026 unless this is winget-specific behavior.

I checked the PATH inside the x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS using echo %PATH%.
You will find the resulting mess of additional entries below. For better readability, I added a newline after each semicolon.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.50.35717\bin\HostX64\x64;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\BuildTools\Common7\IDE\VC\VCPackages;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\BuildTools\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\TestWindow;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\BuildTools\MSBuild\Current\bin\Roslyn;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v10.0A\bin\NETFX 4.8 Tools\x64\;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\BuildTools\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\CodeCoverage.Console;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\BuildTools\VC\Tools\Llvm\x64\bin;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.26100.0\\x64;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\\x64;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\BuildTools\\MSBuild\Current\Bin\amd64;
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\BuildTools\Common7\IDE\;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\BuildTools\Common7\Tools\;
[... SYSTEM PATH FROM BEFORE ...];
[... USER PATH FROM BEFORE ...];
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\BuildTools\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\CMake\CMake\bin;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\BuildTools\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\CMake\Ninja;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\BuildTools\Common7\IDE\VC\Linux\bin\ConnectionManagerExe;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\BuildTools\VC\vcpkg

Also, in MS' infinite wisdom they no longer seem to provide a version identifier...

C:\Windows\system32>winget search --id Microsoft.VisualStudio.
Name                                           ID                                           Version        Quelle
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visual Studio Enterprise 2017                  Microsoft.VisualStudio.2017.Enterprise       15.9.70        winget
Visual Studio BuildTools 2019                  Microsoft.VisualStudio.2019.BuildTools       16.11.50       winget
Visual Studio Enterprise 2019                  Microsoft.VisualStudio.2019.Enterprise       16.11.53       winget
Visual Studio Professional 2019                Microsoft.VisualStudio.2019.Professional     16.11.53       winget
Visual Studio BuildTools 2022                  Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.BuildTools       17.14.23       winget
Visual Studio Community 2022                   Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.Community        17.14.23       winget
Visual Studio Enterprise 2022                  Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.Enterprise       17.14.23       winget
Visual Studio 2022 Remote Debugger for Devices Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.OnecoreMsvsmon   17.14.6        winget
Visual Studio Professional 2022                Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.Professional     17.14.23       winget
Remote Tools for Visual Studio 2022            Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.RemoteTools      17.14.8        winget
Visual Studio BuildTools 2026                  Microsoft.VisualStudio.BuildTools            18.1.1         winget
Visual Studio Community 2026                   Microsoft.VisualStudio.Community             18.1.1         winget
Visual Studio Community 2026 Insiders          Microsoft.VisualStudio.Community.Insiders    18.3.11312.210 winget
Visual Studio Configuration Finder             Microsoft.VisualStudio.ConfigFinder          1.0.47.55350   winget
Visual Studio Enterprise 2026                  Microsoft.VisualStudio.Enterprise            18.1.1         winget
Visual Studio Enterprise 2026 Insiders         Microsoft.VisualStudio.Enterprise.Insiders   18.3.11312.210 winget
TypeScript SDK                                 Microsoft.VisualStudio.Extensions.TypeScript 4.3            winget
Visual Studio Locator                          Microsoft.VisualStudio.Locator               3.1.7          winget
Visual Studio Professional 2026                Microsoft.VisualStudio.Professional          18.1.1         winget
Visual Studio Professional 2026 Insiders       Microsoft.VisualStudio.Professional.Insiders 18.11206.111   winget