could not find "vswhere" - c++

Question

I'm trying to install boost to run PyGMO properly. However, after I unpack it in a directory (did not use git).
After running bootstrap vc142 (I'm using VScode V1.63.2 and I'm on windows). I'm getting this error:
Building Boost.Build engine
LOCALAPPDATA=C:\Users\wojci\AppData\Local
could not find "vswhere"
Call_If_Exists "..\bin\VCVARS32.BAT"
###
### Using 'msvc' toolset.
###
Followed by:
C:\Program Files\boost\boost_1_78_0\tools\build\src\engine>dir *.exe
Volume in drive C has no label.
C:\Program Files\boost\boost_1_78_0\tools\build\src\engine>copy /b .\b2.exe .\bjam.exe
The system cannot find the file specified.
Failed to build Boost.Build engine.
Does anyone know how to fix/work around this?
Thank you in advance

Answer 1

I found the solution here (git)
Prerequisites:
First download and install MinGW installer mingw-w64-install.exe (I fot it from Sourceforge) and make sure you use x86_64 architecture.
Then download the boost file (boost_1_78_0.zip source)
Open and run cmd as admin
Enter the following command to link the MinFW folder in C:\
mklink /J C:\MinGW "C:\Program Files\mingw-w64\x86_64-8.1.0-posix-seh-rt_v6-rev0\mingw64"
add MinGW to the system PATH:
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\MinGW\bin
setx /M PATH "%PATH%"
Check if you have at least g++ version of 8.1.0
g++ --version
Methodology to install boost:
Navigate to the install folder created and unzip and extract the boost_1_78_0.zip file into this folder
In the CMD navigated to the boost folder
cd C:\install\boost_1_78_0
Type the following to make directories for building and installing boost
mkdir C:\boost-build
mkdir C:\install\boost_1_78_0\boost-build
mkdir C:\boost
Setup boost.build (second line prepers b2, the third line builds boost.build with b2, and the fourth line adds C:\boost-build\bin to your session PATH variable)
cd C:\install\boost_1_78_0\tools\build
bootstrap.bat gcc
b2 --prefix="C:\boost-build" install
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\boost-build\bin
building boost (first line navigateds to boost directory, second line builds boost with b2 this can take a while)
cd C:\install\boost_1_78_0
b2 --build-dir="C:\install\boost_1_78_0\build" --build-type=complete --prefix="C:\boost" toolset=gcc install
Extra notes:
This should work for boost 1.68.0 too and might work for other version just replace 1_78_0 with 1_68_0.
At the end you should have three lines that look something like this:
...failed updating 72 targets...
...skipped 292 targets...
...updated 22164 targets...
It's totally fine if you have some failed and skipped files.

Answer 2

Type "native tools " in the start search.
Run "Native tools for visual studio" as an administrator. A command prompt opens.
change directory to boost .
run command "bootstrap".
Follow up by ".\b2".
Wait for a while.
Worked for me. Hope it helps.