visual studio 2008 C++ no x64 platform

Question

I installed Visual Studio 2008 on my Windows 7 x64 laptop together with installation of Service Pack 1.

Now I want to add x64 platform to my C++ solution. But there is no x64 platform available in the configuration manager for my project. I'm sure I manually selected x64 support during the Visual Studio installation and it was installed.

What is wrong with my setup?

Answer 1

If I recall, VS 2008 Pro doesn't install the 64-bit compiler and tools by default. You have to explicitly select them during the installation.

1. Control Panel -> Uninstall Programs.
2. Select Visual Studio and click Uninstall/Change.
3. Wait. Wait some more. Click Next.
4. Choose Add or Remove Features.
5. Expand MSVC 2008 -> Language Tools -> Visual C++.
6. Select X64 Compilers and Tools.

You'll probably need your original installation media.

Once the 64-bit compiler and tools are installed, you should be able to add a 64-bit configuration to your solution.

Answer 2

See "Use Visual Studio to build 64-bit application" for all you need to build x64 apps with Visual Studio 2008.