Visual Studio Code MSVC cl.exe not found after installing build tools - c++

Question

After setting up VS Code, installing the build tools and going through the tutorial here: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/cpp/config-msvc
Visual Studio Code is unable to find the cl.exe to compile C++.
I replaced the path from the tutorial with the correct one on my hard drive (cl.exe is there).
// My Config
{
"configurations": [
{
"name": "Win32",
"includePath": [
"${workspaceFolder}/**"
],
"defines": [
"_DEBUG",
"UNICODE",
"_UNICODE"
],
"windowsSdkVersion": "10.0.17763.0",
"compilerPath": "C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2019/BuildTools/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.22.27905/bin/Hostx64/x64/cl.exe",
"cStandard": "c11",
"cppStandard": "c++17",
"intelliSenseMode": "msvc-x64"
}
],
"version": 4
}
// The tutorial build-task
{
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [
{
"label": "msvc build",
"type": "shell",
"command": "cl.exe",
"args": [
"/EHsc",
"/Zi",
"/Fe:",
"helloworld.exe",
"helloworld.cpp"
],
"group": {
"kind": "build",
"isDefault": true
},
"presentation": {
"reveal":"always"
},
"problemMatcher": "$msCompile"
}
]
}
When running the build task this error shows, although the compilerPath is correct (the cl.exe is there) and helloworld.cpp exists as well. Running everything as administrator didn't help.
cl.exe : The term 'cl.exe' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or
operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path
is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:1
+ cl.exe /EHsc /Zi /Fe: helloworld.exe helloworld.cpp
+ ~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (cl.exe:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

Answer 1

The 'c_cpp_properties.json' file only configures IntelliSense in the C/C++ extension, so the compilerPath option does not help with building.
Make sure you are launching VS Code from the Developer Command Prompt. This will set the necessary environment variables, including the location of 'cl.exe'.

Answer 2

In the documentation of Visual Studio Code you can see a solution to this issue.
In the section of "C++ > Microsoft C++ on Windows > Troubleshooting" they explain that you need to open your projects from the Developer Command Promp
As an example:
cd projects/yourproject
code .
I haven't found other way of doing it.

Answer 3

My first answer had used hardcoded paths, but this is better. You only need to pay attention to the paths since the docs use 2019 etc.
The VsDevCmd.bat sets up all the env vars you'll need and it works easily within VSCode. It also gives you compiler errors which my previous solution with the hardcoded cl.exe paths did not for some reason.
Run VS Code outside the Developer Command Prompt