mspdb140.dll is missing from your computer

Question

I am trying to check if the visual studio compiler exist in my path. I have add vc/bin dir to the system environment path. When I open a windows console terminal I try to call cl.exe from the console. I am receiving the following message:

The program cant start because mspdb140.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.

What exactly is this message stands about? I tried to followed the instructions from this post, I run the bat file, (furthremore I add manually the dll dir in the path). However I am receiving the same message.

Answer 1

I have add vc/bin dir to the system environment path

That certainly isn't enough. Unclear what else you are doing. There are a wholeheckofalot more environment variables that need to be hacked correctly to allow proper compiling and linking. The values of INCLUDE and LIB are critical for example.

There is a .bat file that takes care of it, vc/vcvarsall.bat in the VS install directory. You pass the architecture you want to target, default is x86. Be sure you use the CALL statement if you use a .bat file yourself and that you in fact see the variables being set correctly with, say, SET INCLUDE. Watch out for a broken PATH variable, a very common scourge on programmers' machines. Usually corrupted by a wonky installer.

The VS installer creates shortcuts to run this .bat file. Used to be named "Visual Studio Command Prompt", might be "Developer Command Prompt". Got pretty muddy since Windows 8.

I personally just an entry in the VS Tools menu. Very handy. Use Tools > External Tools > Add button. And fill out the dialog similar to this:

• Title = Command Prompt
• Command = cmd.exe
• Arguments = /k ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat"" x86
• Initial directory = $(ProjectDir)

Tweak 14.0 to the version number of your VS version, that's VS2015. VS2013 = 12.0, VS2012 = 11.0, VS2010 = 10.0