CodeGuru Home VC++ / MFC / C++ .NET / C# Visual Basic VB Forums Developer.com
Results 1 to 6 of 6
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Location
    Czech Republic
    Posts
    11

    Question Visual Studio Community 2019 - Can I install archived Windows SDK?

    Hi. I am looking for a way to install archived Windows SDK to Visual Studio Community 2019. I am looking specifically for Windows 9x SDK (Win95 and Win98), maybe also Windows 2000 SDK. All Win32 API references found on official MSDN websites have a minimum requirement Windows XP or newer, I wasn't able to find earlier references. I guess that 90 % of these resources may work under earlier versions of Windows, but I'm not actually sure. Finding resources that will work under Windows 98 is very difficult, basically trial and error. That was the main reason why I tried to install Visual Studio 6.0 in a virtual machine with Windows 98 installed. But the technical limitations of this editor are astronomical. The editor isn't very intuitive, lacks number of features that modern VS has, and of course MSDN documentation shipped with this version of VS is difficult to read.

    Can I build applications that will work under Windows 98 with Visual Studio 2019? Is it really truly lost OS? Because as I am aware of, it is still widely used. Not just a testing OS, not just a virtual machine. People use it in special cases (old software, retro-gaming machine, etc.). I am interested in retro-programming, which is programming for old operating systems.

  2. #2
    VictorN's Avatar
    VictorN is offline Super Moderator Power Poster
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Hanover Germany
    Posts
    20,396

    Re: Visual Studio Community 2019 - Can I install archived Windows SDK?

    Quote Originally Posted by Polda18 View Post
    Hi. I am looking for a way to install archived Windows SDK to Visual Studio Community 2019. I am looking specifically for Windows 9x SDK (Win95 and Win98), maybe also Windows 2000 SDK. All Win32 API references found on official MSDN websites have a minimum requirement Windows XP or newer, I wasn't able to find earlier references. I guess that 90 % of these resources may work under earlier versions of Windows, but I'm not actually sure. Finding resources that will work under Windows 98 is very difficult, basically trial and error. That was the main reason why I tried to install Visual Studio 6.0 in a virtual machine with Windows 98 installed. But the technical limitations of this editor are astronomical. The editor isn't very intuitive, lacks number of features that modern VS has, and of course MSDN documentation shipped with this version of VS is difficult to read.

    Can I build applications that will work under Windows 98 with Visual Studio 2019? Is it really truly lost OS? Because as I am aware of, it is still widely used. Not just a testing OS, not just a virtual machine. People use it in special cases (old software, retro-gaming machine, etc.). I am interested in retro-programming, which is programming for old operating systems.
    1.How to Install Visual Studio 6.0 on Windows 10
    2. I cannot agree that "MSDN documentation shipped with this version of VS" (you meant VC++6.0) "is difficult to read".
    This documentation was good enough, at least it was much better than all the latter editions.
    3. I am not sure it would be possible to build with VS2019 the Apps that could work on Win98, however for WinXP it is still possible (I hope).
    Victor Nijegorodov

  3. #3
    2kaud's Avatar
    2kaud is offline Super Moderator Power Poster
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    England
    Posts
    7,822

    Re: Visual Studio Community 2019 - Can I install archived Windows SDK?

    re 3. AFAIK, VS2019 doesn't build programs that work for XP using the v142 compiler. If you have the VS2017 (v141) or the VS2015 (v140) build for XP installed then you can use them from within VS2019. It is possible to install the v141 and v140 build tools for VS2019. Use the VS Installer and look under Desktop Development with C++.

    The issue with older versions of the OS are the CRT dlls. Each version of the c++ compiler requires its own version of the CRT dlls. These are freely available from the MS web (distributables). However, whether the XP CRT version will work with earlier OS versions......... See https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/older-downloads/
    All advice is offered in good faith only. All my code is tested (unless stated explicitly otherwise) with the latest version of Microsoft Visual Studio (using the supported features of the latest standard) and is offered as examples only - not as production quality. I cannot offer advice regarding any other c/c++ compiler/IDE or incompatibilities with VS. You are ultimately responsible for the effects of your programs and the integrity of the machines they run on. Anything I post, code snippets, advice, etc is licensed as Public Domain https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ and can be used without reference or acknowledgement. Also note that I only provide advice and guidance via the forums - and not via private messages!

    C++23 Compiler: Microsoft VS2022 (17.6.5)

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Location
    Czech Republic
    Posts
    11

    Re: Visual Studio Community 2019 - Can I install archived Windows SDK?

    I cannot install VS 6.0 on Windows 10, simply because I'm afraid it won't work with VS 2019 installed and may render my computer unusable. I have installed it in Windows 98 inside VMware virtual machine.

    In other words VS 2019 cannot make apps that could work under older Windows prior to Windows Vista?

  5. #5
    Arjay's Avatar
    Arjay is offline Moderator / EX MS MVP Power Poster
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Posts
    13,490

    Re: Visual Studio Community 2019 - Can I install archived Windows SDK?

    Quote Originally Posted by Polda18 View Post
    I cannot install VS 6.0 on Windows 10, simply because I'm afraid it won't work with VS 2019 installed and may render my computer unusable. I have installed it in Windows 98 inside VMware virtual machine.

    In other words VS 2019 cannot make apps that could work under older Windows prior to Windows Vista?
    Even if the VC6 install suceeds, but doesn't work after getting installed, it won't render the computer unusable. It's just an app after all.

    At any rate, if you are worried about it, just create a restore point prior to an installations - then you can restore to that point if something goes wrong.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Posts
    3

    Re: Visual Studio Community 2019 - Can I install archived Windows SDK?

    Nice post. Worth reading. You may also get more information about this on TechWhoop
    Last edited by JamieLanger; December 9th, 2019 at 04:24 AM.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  





Click Here to Expand Forum to Full Width

Featured