CMake: Visual Studio 15 2017 could not find any instance of Visual Studio

Question

When I am trying to install CMake I get the error:

Visual Studio 15 2017 could not find any instance of Visual Studio. 

I am using Windows 7 and Visual Studio 2017. The CMakeOutput.log file writes:

The system is: Windows - 6.1.7601 - AMD64 

Any ideas?

Answer 1

I ran into the same error and performed the following steps to resolve the issue:

1. Open Visual Studio
2. Go to Tools -> Get Tools and Features
3. In the "Workloads" tab enable "Desktop development with C++"
4. Click Modify at the bottom right

These steps resulted in the "Visual C++ tools for CMake" feature being installed, but the other optional C++ features included in this workload may also helpful for what you are trying to do.

After the Visual Studio updater finishes installing try re-running the command. You may need to open a new command window.

Answer 2

In my case, I installed Visual Studio, selecting the workloads and modules that I wanted, but I ignored the request to reboot, assuming that shutting down the computer at the end of the day and restarting it the following day would suffice. I was wrong.

The following day I tried a cmake build and got the "could not find any instance of Visual Studio" error. After several attempts to resolve, I re-ran the installer, made no changes to the configuration, and clicked Modify. This time I let it reboot the computer. The reboot took a long time. After which my cmake build worked.