Where does Visual Studio look for C header files

Question

I checked out a copy of a C   application from SourceForge  HoboCopy  if you re curious  and tried to compile it   Visual Studio tells me that it can t find a particular header file  I found the file in the source tree  but where do I need to put it  so that it will be found when compiling     Are there special directories

User · Answer

Actually On my windows 10 with visual studio 2017 community, the C++ headers path are:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.15.26726\include
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Include\10.0.17134.0\ucrt

The 1st contains standard C++ headers such as <iostream>, <algorithm>. The 2nd contains old C headers such as <stdio.h>, <string.h>. The version number can be different based on your software.

Hope this would help.

User · Answer

Actually On my windows 10 with visual studio 2017 community, the C++ headers path are:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.15.26726\include
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Include\10.0.17134.0\ucrt

The 1st contains standard C++ headers such as <iostream>, <algorithm>. The 2nd contains old C headers such as <stdio.h>, <string.h>. The version number can be different based on your software.

Hope this would help.

User · Answer

There seems to be a bug in Visual nbsp Studio nbsp 2015 community  For a 64-bit project  the include folder isn t found unless it s in the win32 bit configuration Additional Include Folders list

User · Answer

Visual Studio looks for headers in this order    In the current source directory  In the Additional Include Directories in the project properties  Project -   project name  Properties  under C C     General   In the Visual Studio C   Include directories under Tools   Options   Projects and Solutions   VC   Directories  In new versions of Visual Studio  2015   the above option is deprecated and a list of default include directories is available at Project Properties   Configuration   VC   Directories   In your case  add the directory that the header is to the project properties  Project Properties   Configuration   C C     General   Additional Include Directories

User · Answer

There exists a newer question what is hitting the problem better asking How do include paths work in Visual Studio   There is getting revealed the way to do it in the newer versions of VisualStudio    in the current project only  as the question is set here too  as well as  for every new project as default   The second is the what the answer of Steve Wilkinson above explains  what is  as he supposed himself  not the what Microsoft would recommend   To say it the shortway here  do it  but do it in the User-Directory at     C  Users UserName AppData Local Microsoft MSBuild v4 0   in the XML-file     Microsoft Cpp Win32 user props   and or     Microsoft Cpp x64 user props   and not in the C  program files - directory  where the unmodified Factory-File of Microsoft is expected to reside   Then you do it the way as VisualStudio is doing it too and everything is regular   For more info why to do it alike  see my answer there

User · Answer

Visual Studio looks for headers in this order    In the current source directory  In the Additional Include Directories in the project properties  Project -   project name  Properties  under C C     General   In the Visual Studio C   Include directories under Tools   Options   Projects and Solutions   VC   Directories  In new versions of Visual Studio  2015   the above option is deprecated and a list of default include directories is available at Project Properties   Configuration   VC   Directories   In your case  add the directory that the header is to the project properties  Project Properties   Configuration   C C     General   Additional Include Directories

User · Answer

Tried to add this as a comment to Rob Prouse s posting  but the lack of formatting made it unintelligible     In Visual Studio 2010  the  Tools   Options   Projects and Solutions   VC   Directories  dialog reports that  VC   Directories editing in Tools   Options has been deprecated   proposing that you use the rather counter-intuitive Property Manager   If you really  really want to update the default   IncludePath   you have to hack the appropriate entry in one of the XML files        Program Files    x86  MSBuild Microsoft Cpp v4 0 Platforms Win32 PlatformToolsets v100 Microsoft Cpp Win32 v100 props   or      Program Files    x86  MSBuild Microsoft Cpp v4 0 Platforms x64 PlatformToolsets v100 Microsoft Cpp X64 v100 props    Probably not Microsoft-recommended

User · Answer

Visual Studio looks for headers in this order    In the current source directory  In the Additional Include Directories in the project properties  Project -   project name  Properties  under C C     General   In the Visual Studio C   Include directories under Tools   Options   Projects and Solutions   VC   Directories  In new versions of Visual Studio  2015   the above option is deprecated and a list of default include directories is available at Project Properties   Configuration   VC   Directories   In your case  add the directory that the header is to the project properties  Project Properties   Configuration   C C     General   Additional Include Directories

User · Answer

Tried to add this as a comment to Rob Prouse s posting  but the lack of formatting made it unintelligible     In Visual Studio 2010  the  Tools   Options   Projects and Solutions   VC   Directories  dialog reports that  VC   Directories editing in Tools   Options has been deprecated   proposing that you use the rather counter-intuitive Property Manager   If you really  really want to update the default   IncludePath   you have to hack the appropriate entry in one of the XML files        Program Files    x86  MSBuild Microsoft Cpp v4 0 Platforms Win32 PlatformToolsets v100 Microsoft Cpp Win32 v100 props   or      Program Files    x86  MSBuild Microsoft Cpp v4 0 Platforms x64 PlatformToolsets v100 Microsoft Cpp X64 v100 props    Probably not Microsoft-recommended

User · Answer

If the project came with a Visual Studio project file  then that should already be configured to find the headers for you   If not  you ll have to add the include file directory to the project settings by right-clicking the project and selecting Properties  clicking on  C C     and adding the directory containing the include files to the  Additional Include Directories  edit box

User · Answer

If the project came with a Visual Studio project file  then that should already be configured to find the headers for you   If not  you ll have to add the include file directory to the project settings by right-clicking the project and selecting Properties  clicking on  C C     and adding the directory containing the include files to the  Additional Include Directories  edit box

User · Answer

Visual Studio looks for headers in this order    In the current source directory  In the Additional Include Directories in the project properties  Project -   project name  Properties  under C C     General   In the Visual Studio C   Include directories under Tools   Options   Projects and Solutions   VC   Directories  In new versions of Visual Studio  2015   the above option is deprecated and a list of default include directories is available at Project Properties   Configuration   VC   Directories   In your case  add the directory that the header is to the project properties  Project Properties   Configuration   C C     General   Additional Include Directories

User · Answer

There seems to be a bug in Visual nbsp Studio nbsp 2015 community  For a 64-bit project  the include folder isn t found unless it s in the win32 bit configuration Additional Include Folders list

User · Answer

If the project came with a Visual Studio project file  then that should already be configured to find the headers for you   If not  you ll have to add the include file directory to the project settings by right-clicking the project and selecting Properties  clicking on  C C     and adding the directory containing the include files to the  Additional Include Directories  edit box

User · Answer

There exists a newer question what is hitting the problem better asking How do include paths work in Visual Studio   There is getting revealed the way to do it in the newer versions of VisualStudio    in the current project only  as the question is set here too  as well as  for every new project as default   The second is the what the answer of Steve Wilkinson above explains  what is  as he supposed himself  not the what Microsoft would recommend   To say it the shortway here  do it  but do it in the User-Directory at     C  Users UserName AppData Local Microsoft MSBuild v4 0   in the XML-file     Microsoft Cpp Win32 user props   and or     Microsoft Cpp x64 user props   and not in the C  program files - directory  where the unmodified Factory-File of Microsoft is expected to reside   Then you do it the way as VisualStudio is doing it too and everything is regular   For more info why to do it alike  see my answer there

User · Answer

If the project came with a Visual Studio project file  then that should already be configured to find the headers for you   If not  you ll have to add the include file directory to the project settings by right-clicking the project and selecting Properties  clicking on  C C     and adding the directory containing the include files to the  Additional Include Directories  edit box

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