VS2017 developer command prompt only builds to x86 - need x64 - c++

Question

I'm trying to build some C++ libraries using cmake using the VS2017 developer command prompt. I need to build them for a Release x64 setup, however, the command prompt only seems to build them to x86.
First, I run this command (note the build type Release64):
cmake -G "NMake Makefiles" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release64 -Dprotobuf_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../../../../install ../..
-- The C compiler identification is MSVC 19.16.27039.0
-- The CXX compiler identification is MSVC 19.16.27039.0
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working C compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2017/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.16.27023/bin/Hostx86/x86/cl.exe - skipped
-- Detecting C compile features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2017/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.16.27023/bin/Hostx86/x86/cl.exe - skipped
-- Detecting CXX compile features
-- Detecting CXX compile features - done
--
-- 3.13.0.0
-- Looking for pthread.h
-- Looking for pthread.h - not found
-- Found Threads: TRUE
-- Could NOT find ZLIB (missing: ZLIB_LIBRARY ZLIB_INCLUDE_DIR)
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: C:/test_game_server/protobuf/cmake/build/release64
Then I run nmake, but I see this error:
...
[ 49%] Linking CXX static library gmock_main.lib
[ 49%] Built target gmock_main
[ 50%] Generating C:/test_game_server/protobuf/src/google/protobuf/any_test.pb.cc
google/protobuf/any_test.pb.cc: while trying to create directory C:/test_game_server/protobuf/src/google: No error
NMAKE : fatal error U1077: '.\protoc.exe' : return code '0x1'
Stop.
NMAKE : fatal error U1077: '"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.16.27023\bin\HostX86\x86\nmake.exe"' : return code '0x2'
Stop.
NMAKE : fatal error U1077: '"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.16.27023\bin\HostX86\x86\nmake.exe"' : return code '0x2'
Stop.
This error still occurred even after I used Vcvarsall.bat to set a 64-bit hosted build architecture:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat" x64
**********************************************************************
** Visual Studio 2017 Developer Command Prompt v15.9.22
** Copyright (c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation
**********************************************************************
[vcvarsall.bat] Environment initialized for: 'x64'
It is worth noting that there are no errors when I compile the project with the option Release instead of Release64.
I looked for the x64 native or cross-tool developer command prompts, but I don't have any associated with VS2017 (I do have one for VS2010 but the C++ version is out of date). Compiling in my standard Windows command prompt is not an option.
How can I force this project to compile to x64 instead of x86?

Answer 1

If you do not require using NMake, you could use the Visual Studio's build system by first generating for 64 bit (note the Win64 part):
cmake -G "Visual Studio 15 2017 Win64" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release64 -Dprotobuf_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=../../../../install ../..
And then building via cmake's build command:
cmake --build <directory> --config Release64
CMake will then generate and execute whatever command is needed for building using Visual Studio itself on the command line.

Answer 2

You aren't using CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE properly.
https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/variable/CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE.html?highlight=cmake_build_type
Unless you have defined a configuration besides the default ones (Debug, Release, RelWithDebInfo, MinSizeRel) what you are doing makes no sense.
Configurations have nothing to do with the architecture you are compiling for.
The architecture you are compiling for has to do with tool-chains and compiler options.
======================================
2nd
NMake Makefiles are ridiculously slow. Use Ninja or Visual Studio instead.
======================================
3rd
Here are instructions for building for x64/x86 using visual studio (I use 2019, but it shouldn't matter)
cmake -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" -A Win32 -S path_to_source -B "build32"
cmake --build build32 --config Release
cmake -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" -A x64 -S path_to_source -B "build64"
cmake --build build64 --config Release
======================================
4th
If you wondering how to configure/build for single configuration generators like ninja/nmake-builds please open up another question. Because it's a loaded question.