How to Set Up MSVC Toolchain for Targeting Windows XP (32-bit) on Windows 11?

[armed]

Hi everyone,

Windows is not my primary development OS, so please bear with me. I’m running Windows 11 (64-bit) and need to set up a toolchain to use rust9x for targeting Windows XP (32-bit).

Is there a standalone version of all the required MSVC build tools available, perhaps as an archive or a self-contained package?

I’d appreciate any guidance or suggestions on how to achieve this setup.

I tried GUI based tool called vs_BuildTools.exe it downloads and installs bunch of stuff everywhere. What I want to achieve is just make simple folder with all the needed stuff like in sample project (e.g. X:\rustprojs\rust9x\r9x-buildtools\vc71\Vc7\PlatformSDK\Lib).

Thanks in advance!

[seritools]

I tried GUI based tool called vs_BuildTools.exe it downloads and installs bunch of stuff everywhere.

yup, installing the XP-supporting toolset should work for this. The relevant files should then be:

• Windows 7 SDK files installed with it, in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1A\Lib.
  
• The toolset files for the v141 toolset, for me it's in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Preview\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.16.27023\lib\x86\
  

e.g. X:\rustprojs\rust9x\r9x-buildtools\vc71\Vc7\PlatformSDK\Lib.

that's VS2003 files copied over from an actual installation I did in a WinXP VM before.

Is there a standalone version of all the required MSVC build tools available, perhaps as an archive or a self-contained package?

nope, not that I know of

[armed]

Thanks, @seritools. That helped.