Issue: After installing the Windows SDK for Server 2008, you are no longer able to build at the VS2008 command line. You receive an error that csc, vbc, and/or msbuild commands are not recognized. You are able to build without problems in the VS IDE.

Cause: The VC++ compilers that install with the Windows SDK overwrite vcvars32.bat improperly.

Workaround: Repair the VS2008 command line build environment by editing c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat manually.

Close all instances of Visual Studio:

1. Use Notepad to edit the file %\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat. Change the top few lines where the variables are set.

Change these lines:

@SET VSINSTALLDIR=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0
@SET VCINSTALLDIR=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC
@SET FrameworkDir=Framework32
@SET FrameworkVersion=v2.0.50727

@if "%VSINSTALLDIR%"=="" goto error_no_VSINSTALLDIR
@if "%VCINSTALLDIR%"=="" goto error_no_VCINSTALLDIR

to the following, in order to set the correct path to the frameworkdir:

@SET VSINSTALLDIR=c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0
@SET VCINSTALLDIR=c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC
@SET FrameworkDir=c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework
@SET FrameworkVersion=v2.0.50727
@SET Framework35Version=v3.5

@if "%VSINSTALLDIR%"=="" goto error_no_VSINSTALLDIR
@if "%VCINSTALLDIR%"=="" goto error_no_VCINSTALLDIR

2. Open the VS command line build environment and verify that you can build successfully.

Please email us directly if you need additional help.

Karin Meier

Windows SDK Program Manager