System requirements: The system requirements for installing VS 2026 are much the same as they were for VS 2022 except for dropping Windows Server 2016. As with Visual Studio 2022 (17.4) or later, VS 2026 has a ARM64 native version of the IDE and tools available.

The major change here is the dropping of support for targeting many older versions of Windows that are out of their support lifecycle. The Visual C++ 2026 toolset no longer supports targeting Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, or 32-bit versions of Windows on ARM.

VS 2026 includes a new version of the C/C++ Compiler (19.50.35717.0). The v145 Platform Toolset includes support for C++14, C++17, C++20, and C11/C17. A preview of C++23 support is available via /std:c++23preview. C++26 support for the Standard Library is also in progress in this release using /std::c++latest. See Microsoft Learn for more details on the C++ language and library conformance status. Note that C11/C17 support requires Windows SDK (20348) or later. For a step-by-step guide on upgrading projects, see this blog post.

The C/C++ Runtime (14.50.34710) is binary compatible with VS 2015 Update 3 through VS 2026, which means you can safely link C/C++ code built with VS 2015 Update 3, VS 2017, VS 2019, or VS 2022 with VS 2026. See Microsoft Docs for details. For a complete list of updates to the C/C++ Standard Library, see GitHub. For more details on language conformance updates, see this blog post.

VS 2026 does provide support for older MSVC toolsets as well per this blog post.

Compiler switches: The MSVC 19.50 compiler toolset adds a new switch /Zc:u8EscapeEncoding which enables C++20 conformant encoding for some u8 sequences. Without this switch, the older non-conforming behavior is used when encoding \x sequences. This was technically added in VS 2022 17.14.

C4865 off-by-default warning: The MSVC 19.50 compiler when using /Wall will emit this conformance warning. For my GitHub projects, I suppressed this warning as it’s an issue that has to be addressed in the Windows SDK headers.

ASAN: The Address Sanitizer (ASAN) in VS 2026 has been updated to support ARM64 native applications per this blog post.

Project Templates: The Microsoft GDK Templates on VS Marketplace support VS 2026 including the ARM64 native version. I’m working on releasing a new build of the directx-vs-templates VSIX with v145 support on GitHub.

Xbox: Support for Visual Studio 2026 for the Microsoft GDK with Xbox Extensions will be shipped in a future update. Basic MSBuild support for the Gaming.*.x64 custom platforms via BWOI is present in the October 2025 release as part of the new layouts folders.

CMake: VS 2026 ships with CMake 4.1.1. The included version supports the “Visual Studio 18 2026” generator, which is not in the mainline version until CMake 4.2.0.

clang: VS 2026 includes clang/LLVM 20.1.8 for Windows as an optional component. Note that the latest compiler fixes some name-mangling compat issues with MSVC 19.20 or later, but won’t be compatible with older clang-built libraries. The switch -fms-compatibility-version=19.14 returns to the older behavior if needed.

The directx-vs-templates project hosts most of my templates with two new templates in the latest release: d3d11game_vcpkg and d3d12game_vcpkg. The VSIX package there lets you create MSBuild projects, and there are PowerShell scripts and files available for generating CMake versions. For more information, see the wiki.

In addition, there is now an official Microsoft GDK template that uses vcpkg available on Visual Studio Marketplace. This includes both a MSBuild and a CMake version using the ms-gdk vcpkg port so you don’t need to install the Microsoft GDK to build against it. The README.md includes a quick tutorial on adding the directxtk12 port to the project and some basic drawing with Directx Tool Kit for DX12.

I’m working on some new samples to demonstrate building a single project with both the public Microsoft GDK and the NDA Microsoft GDK with Xbox Extensions using VCPKG for various dependancies. I’ll update this blog post with links when they are available later this summer.

See Direct3D Win32 Game Visual Studio template and Direct3D Game Visual Studio templates (Redux)

Note that VS 2022 17.12 and 17.14 are supported through the Long Term Servicing Channel.

VS Content Pipeline: Note that in 17.9.3 the use of the Autodesk FBX SDK was removed due to a security issue. The result is that the 3D Model Viewer was removed and the MeshContentTask no longer functions for converting meshes to CMO files. For Wavefront OBJ to CMO, you can use meshconvert in the DirectXMesh project. I’m looking at adding support for exporting CMO to the ATG Samples Content Exporter.

Compiler and CRT

VS 2022 Update 14 includes a revision of the C/C++ compiler (19.44.35207).

The C/C++ Runtime (14.44.35112) is binary compatible with VS 2015 Update 3 through VS 2022, which means you can safely link C/C++ code built with VS 2015 Update 3, VS 2017, or VS 2019 with VS 2022. See Microsoft Docs for details. A full list of updates to the Standard C++ Library can be found on GitHub.

C++23: See Visual C++ Team blog.

CMake: This update includes CMake version 3.31.

clang: VS 2022 17.14 includes clang/LLVM v19.1.5 for Windows as an optional component.

Related: Visual Studio 2022, VS 2022 Update 1, VS 2022 Update 2, VS 2022 Update 3, VS 2022 Update 4, VS 2022 Update 5, VS 2022 Update 6, VS 2022 Update 7, VS 2022 Update 8, VS 2022 Update 9, VS 2022 Update 10, VS 2022 Update 11, VS 2022 Update 12, VS 2022 Update 13

Windows 7 and Windows 8.0 Retirement

I’ve removed all codepaths for supporting Windows 7 and Windows 8.0 from my libraries. The minimum supported operating system is now Windows 8.1 or later. Windows 7 hit end of life five years ago, and Windows 8.0 has been out of support for years as well. I could have gone so far as to remove Windows 8.1 support since that hit end of life two years ago, but I kept it for now primarily because I still have legacy Xbox One XDK support for a few of the libraries which uses the 0x0602 codepaths.

As part of these changes I simplified DirectX Tool Kit for Audio projects considerabilty and no longer have secondary vcxproj files for various XAudio2 versions. Instead, the DirectXTK_Desktop_20xx projects build for Windows 8.1 and XAudio 2.8. The DirectXTK_Desktop_20xx_Win10 projects build for Windows 10 or later and use XAudio 2.9.

The directxtk_desktop_2019 NuGet package no longer uses the XAudio2Redist package and just uses XAudio 2.8. The directxtk[12]_desktop_win10 NuGet packages continue to use XAudio 2.9. If you want to use XAudio2Redist, this is still supported by the CMake projects.

For GamePad and building using XInput, I assume XInput 1.4 is present rather than using XInput 9.1.0 for ‘downlevel’ support which was required for Windows 7. Note I actively avoid using legacy DirectX SDK XInput 1.3 as it requires legacy DXSetup to deploy and has known security bugs.

GameInput v1 API Support

Speaking of the DirectX Tool Kit input classes. The GameInput implementation now supports both the original GAMEINPUT_API_VERSION of 0 and can now build for the new GAMEINPUT_API_VERSION 1 release from Game Developer Conference last month. See Microsoft Learn for more details. GameInput v1 for PC is available on NuGet and vcpkg. Be sure to run GameInputRedist.msi on your development system and include it in your redistribution.

To make use of GameInput v1 on PC, use the CMake option BUILD_GAMEINPUT. The directxtk and directxk12 vcpkg ports both offer gameinput features.

For Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S using the Microsoft GDK with Xbox extensions, it still uses the GameInput v0 API.

DirectX Tool Kit for Audio

In my original implementation using X3DAudio for DirectX Toolkit for Audio, I made use of X3DAUDIO_CALCULATE_MATRIX | X3DAUDIO_CALCULATE_DOPPLER | X3DAUDIO_CALCULATE_LPF_DIRECT and if there was reverb I also added X3DAUDIO_CALCULATE_LPF_REVERB | X3DAUDIO_CALCULATE_REVERB. I also set the use of X3DAUDIO_CALCULATE_REDIRECT_TO_LFE for speaker configs with an LFE channel.

I reworked this implementation as follows:

• AudioEngine_DisableLFERedirect turns off the default use of X3DAUDIO_CALCULATE_REDIRECT_TO_LFE if the speaker config has a LFE channel.

• AudioEngine_DisableDopplerEffect turns off the use of X3DAUDIO_CALCULATE_DOPPLER for all cases.

• AudioEngine_ZeroCenter3D adds the use of X3DAUDIO_CALCULATE_ZEROCENTER for all cases.

• The SoundEffectInstance_UseRedirectLFE was originally marked as ‘internal only’ but is now used to enable X3DAUDIO_CALCULATE_REDIRECT_TO_LFE on a per-voice basis if you are also using AudioEngine_DisableLFERedirect.

• The SoundEffectInstance_ZeroCenter3D flags allows setting X3DAUDIO_CALCULATE_ZEROCENTER on a per-voice basis if not using AudioEngine_ZeroCenter3D.

For the DirectX Tool Kit for DX11 CMake project, I renamed the option BUILD_XAUDIO_WIN7 to BUILD_XAUDIO_REDIST which is consistent with DirectX Tool Kit for DX12.

The latest XAudio2Redist now includes x86, x64, and ARM64 binaries.

Deprecation of ARM64 using VS 2019

In a recent service release of Windows 11 SDK (26100), support for VS 2019 when building for ARM64 was dropped. I have made all ARM64 binaries use VS 2022 per the recommendation of the compiler team.

• The xyz_desktop_2019 NuGet packages now support only x86 and x64 and are built with VS 2019. This is forward compatible for VS 2022 as well.

• The xyz_uwp NuGet packages all require VS 2022 as of last October 2024 releases.

• The xyz_desktop_win10 NuGet packges are built with VS 2022 and include x86, x64, and ARM64. Note I added new directxtk12_desktop_win10 and uvatlas_desktop_win10 NuGet packages for this scenario.

Windows on ARM 32-bit support was removed last year due to deprecation per Microsoft Learn.

CMake support for generating shared library DLLs

For many years, I have focused on only supporting C++ static linking for my GitHub projects. I have occassionaly gotten requests for DLL shared lib support, but didn’t want to manage a lot of extra vcxproj files and macros. I’ve since added support to the CMake projects using BUILD_SHARED_LIBS. The GitHub projects can therefore be built as either static C++ libraries or DLLs using CMake. The MSBuild projects are all still C++ static libraries only.

For vcpkg scenarios, this means that if you use x64-windows then you will get a DLL instead of a static C++ library for these projects. The CMake target will automatically set the required import preprocessor define. For vcpkg+MSBuild integration, you have to define it in your project settings directly.

If you still want a static C++ library, then use -static or -static-md triplets instead (i.e. x64-windows-static-md).

In the process of adding this functionality, I found a bug in the xbox community triplets toolchain file when building for a DLL instead of as a static library. This is fixed as of this commit.

BTW, the ctest test suites for these projects all support either BUILD_SHARED_LIBS setting. Some of the additional ‘white box’ tests are skipped in the DLL version since those entry-points are not exported.

DirectXMath

The DirectXMath 3.20b release is a minor update. The only code change is that the XM_DEPRECATED macro will use the C++14 [[deprecated]] standard attribute instead of various compiler-specific solutions when appropriate.

The primary purpose of this release was to update the CMake project to add BUILD_XDSP, BUILD_SHMATH, BUILD_DX11, and BUILD_DX12 options for the optional XDSP and SHMath libraries, which are used by the latest vcpkg port.

Future plans

I have a few feature requests pending that I will be working on over the coming months. The main ‘break change’ I plan for later this year is to move the CMake minimum version up to 3.21 instead of 3.20. Visual Studio 2019 16.11 only came with CMake 3.20 which is why I currently use that, and Visual Studio 2022 originally shipped with 3.21. You can combine newer CMake installs with the VS 2019 toolset, but for now I wanted to keep it simple.

Note that VS 2022 17.12 and 17.14 are supported through the Long Term Servicing Channel.

VS Content Pipeline: Note that in 17.9.3 the use of the Autodesk FBX SDK was removed due to a security issue. The result is that the 3D Model Viewer was removed and the MeshContentTask no longer functions for converting meshes to CMO files. For Wavefront OBJ to CMO, you can use meshconvert in the DirectXMesh project. I’m looking at adding support for exporting CMO to the ATG Samples Content Exporter.

Compiler and CRT

VS 2022 Update 13 includes a revision of the C/C++ compiler (19.43.34808).

The C/C++ Runtime (14.42.34433) from Update 12 is unchanged. A full list of updates to the Standard C++ Library can be found on GitHub.

C++23: This compiler adds a new C++23 language feature. See Visual C++ Team blog.

CMake: This update includes CMake version 3.30.

Xbox: The Address Sanitizer (ASAN) DLL in 17.13.0 was not compatible with the Xbox Game OS. A servicing fix for this issue was made in 17.13.3.

clang: VS 2022 17.13 includes clang/LLVM v19.1.1 for Windows as an optional component.

Related: Visual Studio 2022, VS 2022 Update 1, VS 2022 Update 2, VS 2022 Update 3, VS 2022 Update 4, VS 2022 Update 5, VS 2022 Update 6, VS 2022 Update 7, VS 2022 Update 8, VS 2022 Update 9, VS 2022 Update 10, VS 2022 Update 11, VS 2022 Update 12

Note that VS 2022 17.10, 17.12, and 17.14 are supported through the Long Term Servicing Channel.

VS Content Pipeline: Note that in 17.9.3 the use of the Autodesk FBX SDK was removed due to a security issue. The result is that the 3D Model Viewer was removed and the MeshContentTask no longer functions for converting meshes to CMO files. For Wavefront OBJ to CMO, you can use meshconvert in the DirectXMesh project. I’m looking at adding support for exporting CMO to the ATG Samples Content Exporter.

Compiler and CRT

VS 2022 Update 12 includes a revision of the C/C++ compiler (19.42.34433).

The C/C++ Runtime (14.42.34433) is binary compatible with VS 2015 Update 3 through VS 2022, which means you can safely link C/C++ code built with VS 2015 Update 3, VS 2017, or VS 2019 with VS 2022. See Microsoft Docs for details. A full list of updates to the Standard C++ Library can be found on GitHub.

C++23: This compiler adds a new C++23 language feature. See Visual C++ Team blog.

Xbox: The Address Sanitizer (ASAN) DLL in 17.12.0 was not compatible with the Xbox Game OS. A servicing fix for this issue was made in 17.12.6.

clang: VS 2022 17.12 includes clang/LLVM v18.1.8 for Windows as an optional component.

Related: Visual Studio 2022, VS 2022 Update 1, VS 2022 Update 2, VS 2022 Update 3, VS 2022 Update 4, VS 2022 Update 5, VS 2022 Update 6, VS 2022 Update 7, VS 2022 Update 8, VS 2022 Update 9, VS 2022 Update 10, VS 2022 Update 11

DirectX 12: This Windows SDK has version 1.612 of the headers which is between the DirectX Agility SDK 1.611 and 1.613 releases. This includes up to ID3D12Device14, ID3D12GraphicsCommandList10, and D3D12_FEATURE_D3D12_OPTIONS21. These headers also define D3D_SHADER_MODEL_6_8, D3D_SHADER_MODEL_6_9, D3D_ROOT_SIGNATURE_VERSION_1_2, D3D12_HEAP_TYPE_GPU_UPLOAD, D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_1_0_GENERIC, and D3D_PRIMITIVE_TOPOLOGY_TRIANGLEFAN.

DirectXMath: This Windows SDK includes version 3.19 which has some minor updates for MinGW, Clang/LLVM, and GNUC compatibility.

NuGet: The Windows SDK is also offered via NuGet.

ARM64/AArch64: The Windows SDK (26100) does not support VS 2019 for Win32 on ARM64/AArch64 development as of 10.0.26100.1882, and VS 2022 is highly recommended for all Windows on ARM64 development. Note that ARM32/AArch32 is deprecated.

Related: Windows SDK for Windows 11, Windows SDK for Windows 11, Version 22H2

Note that VS 2022 17.10, 17.12, and 17.14 are supported through the Long Term Servicing Channel.

VS Content Pipeline: Note that in 17.9.3 the use of the Autodesk FBX SDK was removed due to a security issue. The result is that the 3D Model Viewer was removed and the MeshContentTask no longer functions for converting meshes to CMO files. For Wavefront OBJ to CMO, you can use meshconvert in the DirectXMesh project. I’m looking at adding support for exporting CMO to the ATG Samples Content Exporter.

Compiler and CRT

VS 2022 Update 11 includes a revision of the C/C++ compiler (19.41.34120.0).

The C/C++ Runtime (14.40.33810) from Update 10 is unchanged. A full list of updates to the Standard C++ Library can be found on GitHub.

CMake: This update includes CMake version 3.29.

Related: Visual Studio 2022, VS 2022 Update 1, VS 2022 Update 2, VS 2022 Update 3, VS 2022 Update 4, VS 2022 Update 5, VS 2022 Update 6, VS 2022 Update 7, VS 2022 Update 8, VS 2022 Update 9, VS 2022 Update 10

Visual Studio 17.0 - 17.10 are out of their support lifecycle as of January 2026.

VS Content Pipeline: Note that in 17.9.3 the use of the Autodesk FBX SDK was removed due to a security issue. The result is that the 3D Model Viewer was removed and the MeshContentTask no longer functions for converting meshes to CMO files. For Wavefront OBJ to CMO, you can use meshconvert in the DirectXMesh project. I’m looking at adding support for exporting CMO to the ATG Samples Content Exporter.

Compiler and CRT

VS 2022 Update 10 includes a revision of the C/C++ compiler (19.40.33808.0).

The C/C++ Runtime (14.40.33810) is binary compatible with VS 2015 Update 3 through VS 2022, which means you can safely link C/C++ code built with VS 2015 Update 3, VS 2017, or VS 2019 with VS 2022. See Microsoft Docs for details. A full list of updates to the Standard C++ Library can be found on GitHub.

Related: Visual Studio 2022, VS 2022 Update 1, VS 2022 Update 2, VS 2022 Update 3, VS 2022 Update 4, VS 2022 Update 5, VS 2022 Update 6, VS 2022 Update 7, VS 2022 Update 8, VS 2022 Update 9

Visual Studio 17.0 - 17.10 are out of their support lifecycle as of January 2026.

VS Content Pipeline: Note that in 17.9.3 the use of the Autodesk FBX SDK was removed due to a security issue. The result is that the 3D Model Viewer was removed and the MeshContentTask no longer functions for converting meshes to CMO files. For Wavefront OBJ to CMO, you can use meshconvert in the DirectXMesh project. I’m looking at adding support for exporting CMO to the ATG Samples Content Exporter.

Compiler and CRT

VS 2022 Update 9 includes a revision of the C/C++ compiler (19.39.33519.0). See this blog post for information on recent codegen improvements.

The C/C++ Runtime (14.38.33135) from Update 8 is unchanged. A full list of updates to the Standard C++ Library can be found on GitHub.

VS 2019 (v142): The VS 2019 toolset included in update 17.9.1 has been updated to 14.29.30154.0 to match the current VS 2019 (16.11) servicing.

CMake: This update includes CMake version 3.28.

clang: VS 2022 17.9 includes clang/LLVM v17.0.3 for Windows as an optional component.

Related: Visual Studio 2022, VS 2022 Update 1, VS 2022 Update 2, VS 2022 Update 3, VS 2022 Update 4, VS 2022 Update 5, VS 2022 Update 6, VS 2022 Update 7, VS 2022 Update 8