In Visual Studio Code 2017: msbuild : The term 'msbuild' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet

Question

 msbuild : The term 'msbuild' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet,
 function, script file, or operable program.

As far as my googling goes, Visual Code should come with MSbuild. I have installed the C/C++ and msbuild Tools extensions to no avail. What can I do?

Edit: I am using Visual Studio Code 1.19.2

Answer 1

I suggest you rethink you command-line approach.

Short plan

1. Install Visual Studio Build Tools 2017
2. Find proper MSBuild
3. Use it

---

Details

1. Using Build Tools will give you independence from Visual Studio installation.

   Download Build Tools for Visual Studio 2017 from Visual Studio Downloads page (direct link)

   Command-line arguments documented here: Use command-line parameters to install Visual Studio 2017

   All workloads and components are listed here: Visual Studio Build Tools 2017 component directory

2. You can use PowerShell module VSSetup. Download it or install from here: Github: Microsoft/Visual Studio Setup PowerShell Module

3. Run MSBuild with build target (you can add additional required parameters)

---

# 1. Find MS Build  

Import-Module $PSScriptRoot\VSSetup\VSSetup.psd1

$msBuildPath = (Get-VSSetupInstance | Select-VSSetupInstance -Version 15.0 -Product Microsoft.VisualStudio.Product.BuildTools).InstallationPath

if ([System.IntPtr]::Size -eq 8)
{
    $global:msbuildPath = Join-Path $msBuildPath 'MSBuild\15.0\Bin\amd64'
}
else
{
    $global:msbuildPath = Join-Path $msBuildPath 'MSBuild\15.0\Bin'
}

Write-Output "Using MSBuild from $global:msbuildPath"
Write-Output "MSBuild /version"

$msbuild = Join-Path $global:msbuildPath msbuild

& $msbuild /version

# 2. Build

& $msbuild "$sln_file" /t:Build /v:q /nologo