Msvc
From wikinotes
MSVC (visualstudio) is window's official compiler (that that platform is built around).
Versioning
Visual studio versioning is frustrating, but wikipedia has a fantastic chart that maps years to versions.
Install
Download specific visualstudio versions from here: https://my.visualstudio.com/Downloads?q=visual%20studio%202015&wt.mc_id=o~msft~vscom~older-downloads
visualstudio 11 (2012) maya2015-2017 visualstudio 14 (2015) maya2018-2019 visualstudio 15 (2017) python-3.4+, maya2020+ visualstudio 16 (2019) NOTE:
visualstudio installs can succeed with exit code
0
or3010
(needs reboot)
Usage
vcvarsall locations visualstudio 9.0 - 14.0 C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\\VC\\vcvarsall.bat
visualstudio 15.0 + C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2017\\Community\\VC\\Auxiliary\\Build\\vcvarsall.bat
REM run vcvarsall.bat to setup your environment to build for a specific platform/arch vcvarsall.bat amd86_64 REM ? have not compiled directly yet...
References
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/build-tools-container (vs2017) docker container with buildtools only https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2015/11/02/announcing-visual-c-build-tools-2015-standalone-c-tools-for-build-environments/ intro to vs2015 standalone buildtools (and note that included in vs2017 buildtools) https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/e2h7fzkw.aspx (vs2015) docs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4E_nU2F-iY introduction to visualstudio2017 installer