CMake: failed to run MSBuild command: MSBuild.exe

Question

I am trying to build FIAT using CMake GUI on windows 10.

CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:3 (project):   Failed to run MSBuild command:      MSBuild.exe    to get the value of VCTargetsPath: Configuring incomplete, errors occurred! 

I configured CMake to use Visual Studio 15 2017 compiler.

How can I fix this?

If needed, here is the CMakeLists.txt file

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.2) include(CheckCXXCompilerFlag) project(FIAT CXX)  set(CMAKE_ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lib) set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lib) set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin)  if(CHECK_CXX_COMPILER_USED1) # Using Visual Studio C++ elseif("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}x" STREQUAL "MSVCx") # Using Intel C++ elseif("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}x" STREQUAL "Intelx") else(CHECK_CXX_COMPILER_USED1)     # GCC or Clang     # At least C++11     CHECK_CXX_COMPILER_FLAG("-std=c++17" COMPILER_SUPPORTS_CXX17)     CHECK_CXX_COMPILER_FLAG("-std=c++1z" COMPILER_SUPPORTS_CXX1Z)     CHECK_CXX_COMPILER_FLAG("-std=c++14" COMPILER_SUPPORTS_CXX14)     CHECK_CXX_COMPILER_FLAG("-std=c++1y" COMPILER_SUPPORTS_CXX1Y)     CHECK_CXX_COMPILER_FLAG("-std=c++11" COMPILER_SUPPORTS_CXX11)     if(COMPILER_SUPPORTS_CXX17)         set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -std=c++17")     elseif(COMPILER_SUPPORTS_CXX1Z)         set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -std=c++1z")     elseif(COMPILER_SUPPORTS_CXX14)         set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -std=c++14")     elseif(COMPILER_SUPPORTS_CXX1Y)         set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -std=c++1y")     elseif(COMPILER_SUPPORTS_CXX11)         set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -std=c++11")     else(COMPILER_SUPPORTS_CXX17)         message(STATUS "The compiler ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER} has no C++11 support. Please use a different C++ compiler.")     endif(COMPILER_SUPPORTS_CXX17)      if(CHECK_CXX_COMPILER_USED2)     elseif("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}x" MATCHES "Clangx")         # Using Clang         set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wall -Wextra -Weverything -Wno-c++98-compat -Wno-c++98-compat-pedantic -Wno-global-constructors")     elseif("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}x" STREQUAL "GNUx")         # Using GCC         set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wall -Wextra -pedantic")     endif(CHECK_CXX_COMPILER_USED2) endif(CHECK_CXX_COMPILER_USED1)  #OpenCV FIND_PACKAGE(OpenCV REQUIRED core imgproc highgui imgcodecs) if(OpenCV_Found)     INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${OpenCV_INCLUDE_DIR}) endif(OpenCV_Found)  #Boost FIND_PACKAGE(Boost REQUIRED program_options filesystem) if(Boost_FOUND)     INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR}) else(Boost_FOUND)     set(CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH ${CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH} "C:/local/boost_1_60_0/")     set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH ${CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH} "C:/local/boost_1_60_0/lib64-msvc-14.0")     Find_PACKAGE(Boost)     if(Boost_FOUND)         INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${Boost_INCLUDE_DIR})     endif(Boost_FOUND) endif(Boost_FOUND)  set(Boost_USE_STATIC_LIBS        OFF) set(Boost_USE_MULTITHREADED      ON) set(Boost_USE_STATIC_RUNTIME     OFF) set(BOOST_ALL_DYN_LINK           OFF)  # Annotation Lib file(GLOB_RECURSE FIAT_LIB_HEADERS     "${FIAT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/image/*.h" "${FIAT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/annotation/*.h" "${FIAT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/tools/*.h" )  file(GLOB_RECURSE FIAT_LIB_SRC     "${FIAT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/image/Image.cpp" "${FIAT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/annotation/*.cpp" "${FIAT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/tools/*.cpp" )  add_library(utilities ${INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES} ${FIAT_LIB_HEADERS} ${FIAT_LIB_SRC}) target_link_libraries (utilities ${Boost_LIBRARIES} ${OpenCV_LIBRARIES} )  if(CHECK_CXX_COMPILER_USED_UTILITIES)  elseif("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}x" STREQUAL "MSVCx")   # using Visual Studio C++ elseif("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}x" STREQUAL "Intelx")   # using Intel C++ else()   # GCC or Clang     target_link_libraries (utilities m ) endif(CHECK_CXX_COMPILER_USED_UTILITIES)  # Annotate file(GLOB_RECURSE FIAT_ANNOTATE_HEADERS )  file(GLOB_RECURSE FIAT_ANNOTATE_SRC     "${FIAT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/app/annotate.cpp" )  add_executable(annotate ${INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES} ${FIAT_LIB_HEADERS} ${FIAT_ANNOTATE_HEADERS} ${FIAT_ANNOTATE_SRC}) target_link_libraries(annotate utilities ${Boost_LIBRARIES} ${OpenCV_LIBRARIES})   if(CHECK_CXX_COMPILER_USED_ANNOTATE) elseif("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}x" STREQUAL "MSVCx")   # using Visual Studio C++ elseif("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}x" STREQUAL "Intelx")   # using Intel C++ else()   # GCC or Clang     target_link_libraries (annotate m) endif(CHECK_CXX_COMPILER_USED_ANNOTATE) 

As per your recommendation, I tried building from the Developer Command Prompt for VS2015 but still got the following error:

msbuild FIAT.vcxproj /p:configuration=debug Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 14.0.25420.1 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.  Build started 6/12/2017 5:16:26 AM. Project "E:\Work\FastImageAnnotationTool-master\FIAT.vcxproj" on node 1 (default targets). E:\Work\FastImageAnnotationTool-master\FIAT.vcxproj(1,1): error MSB4067: The element <#text> beneat h element <Project> is unrecognized. Done Building Project "E:\Work\FastImageAnnotationTool-master\FIAT.vcxproj" (default targets) -- FA ILED.   Build FAILED.  "E:\Work\FastImageAnnotationTool-master\FIAT.vcxproj" (default target) (1) ->   E:\Work\FastImageAnnotationTool-master\FIAT.vcxproj(1,1): error MSB4067: The element <#text> bene ath element <Project> is unrecognized.      0 Warning(s)     1 Error(s)  Time Elapsed 00:00:00.03 

Here is my project's .vcxproj file

<Project DefaultTargets="Build" ToolsVersion="12.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">     <ItemGroup>       <ProjectConfiguration Include="Debug|Win32">         <Configuration>Debug</Configuration>         <Platform>Win32</Platform>       </ProjectConfiguration>       <ProjectConfiguration Include="Release|Win32">         <Configuration>Release</Configuration>         <Platform>Win32</Platform>       </ProjectConfiguration>     </ItemGroup>     <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.default.props" />     <PropertyGroup>       <ConfigurationType>Application</ConfigurationType>       <PlatformToolset>v120</PlatformToolset>     </PropertyGroup>     <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.props" />     Annotation.cpp Annotations.cpp app/annotate.cpp - image/Image.cpp test/image-test.cpp - tools/tools.cpp    <ItemGroup>       <ClInclude Include="/src/annotation/Annotation.cpp" />     </ItemGroup>     <ItemGroup>       <ClInclude Include="/src/annotation/Annotation.h" />     </ItemGroup>      <ItemGroup>       <ClInclude Include="/src/annotation/Annotations.cpp" />     </ItemGroup>     <ItemGroup>       <ClInclude Include="/src/annotation/Annotation.h" />     </ItemGroup>      <ItemGroup>       <ClInclude Include="/src/app/annotate.cpp" />     </ItemGroup>      <ItemGroup>       <ClInclude Include="/src/image/Image.cpp" />     </ItemGroup>     <ItemGroup>       <ClInclude Include="/src/image/Image.h" />     </ItemGroup>    <ItemGroup>       <ClInclude Include="/src/test/image-test.cpp" />     </ItemGroup>     <ItemGroup>       <ClInclude Include="/src/tools/tools.cpp" />     </ItemGroup>     <ItemGroup>       <ClInclude Include="/src/tools/tools.h" />     </ItemGroup>     <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.Targets" />   </Project>   

Answer 1

The error reads a missing Path to MSBuild.exe

The possible solution to this is to install MSBuild.exe

Scroll down to Other Tools and Frameworks, and install Build Tools For Visual Studio

Answer 2

What Worked for me was

1. File > Delete Cache
2. Click Configure
3. Selecting The right version of Visual Studio from the drop-down list, I.e. - the one that is installed on your machine. in my case, it was 'Visual Studio 15 2017' on windows 10.