Boost compiling with MSVC 11 (VS 2012)

Question

How to build Boost (I tried version 1.48.0) with Visual Studio C++ 11? bootstrap.bat cannot find toolset vc11. I added toolset vc11 to F:\Programming\boost_1_48_0\tools\build\v2\engine\build.bat but got a message:

ERROR: Cannot determine the location of the VS Common Tools folder.

EDIT: The Ferruccio answer works for VS 2012 Express and Boost 1.51.0 too.

d= (◕‿↼ ) **unfortunately, not even "Visual Studio 2017" is fully `C++11` compliant** (I got here while building `Boost`, which's build section nowadays only mentions their need for `C++11` compliant compiler, and NOT with what `MSVC` version they tested `Boost`). Microsoft says "Support for C11 and C17 standards is available in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later", but not tested their claim yet. — Top-Master, Jan 14 '22 at 11:36

Contango · Answer 1 · 2019-05-15T19:23:14.893

This answer works beautifully for:

VS2012 (Visual Studio 2012 Update 2)
- or VS2015 (Visual Studio 2015 Update 2)
Windows 7 x64
- or Windows 10 x64
Boost v1.53
- or Boost v1.60

In a nutshell

Open a Visual Studio 2012 command prompt. From the start menu its: All Programs..Microsoft Visual Studio 2012..Visual Studio Tools..x64 Native Tools Command Prompt.
Unzip boost_1_53_0.zip to C:\boost153.
run bootstrap.bat
run bjam.exe
In any new C++ project, include the path to the Boost libraries, as per the screenshot below.

(optional) Step-by-Step Instructions

Install Visual Studio 2012.
Install Update 2.
Download Boost from SourceForge.
Unzip into "C:\boost153"
Open a Visual Studio Command prompt with Administrator privileges. From the start menu, its All Programs..Microsoft Visual Studio 2012..Visual Studio Tools..x64 Native Tools Command Prompt.
Change to the boost directory with cd c:\boost153.
Run bootstrap.bat.
Run bjam.exe. This builds all of the libraries.
There may be some warnings, but you can ignore these.

When it has finished compiling after about 5 minutes, it states:

The Boost C++ Libraries were successfully built!
The following directory should be added to compiler include paths:
   C:/boost153
The following directory should be added to linker library paths:
   C:\boost153\stage\lib

This is important, we will need to add these two paths to any new C++ project.
Create a new C++ project.
As noted a couple of steps ago, add C:/boost153 to the compiler include path and C:\boost153\stage\lib to the linker library path.
Right click on the project, select Properties, select Configuration Properties..VC++ Directories. See the two portions of bolded text in the screenshot below):

Let's run a simple program that shows off the power of boost, by adding support for foreach loops:

// Source code below copied from:   
// http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_53_0/doc/html/foreach.html
#include "stdafx.h"

#include <string>
#include <iostream>
#include <conio.h> // Supports _getch()
#include <boost/foreach.hpp>

int main()
{
    std::string hello( "Hello, world!" );

    BOOST_FOREACH( char ch, hello )
    {
        std::cout << ch;
    }

    _getch();
    return 0;
}

Result:
```
Hello, world!
```

Update 2016-05-05

Checked with Win10 x64 + VS2015.2 + Boost v1.6.0.

To build other desired libraries, add options to the `bjam` or `b2` command. Some common switches are building libraries for static/shared, x32/x64, etc. — Contango, May 16 '19 at 16:28

Ferruccio · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-05T11:24:53.273

32

I managed to get it to build by following these steps:

Open a Visual Studio command prompt. From the start menu it's: All Programs|Microsoft Visual Studio 11|Native x64 Command Prompt.
Unzip boost_1_48_0.zip and set the working directory to boost_1_48_0
run bootstrap.bat
run bjam.exe

It does generate a lot of warnings about not being able to detect the toolkit version, but it proceeds anyway.

Update: I created GitHub repo called cclibs which makes it simpler to build Boost and some other C++ libraries.

edited Aug 05 '14 at 11:24

answered Nov 21 '11 at 23:44

Ferruccio

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Thanks for this, alot easier than the boost doc's imply – user1294021 Apr 13 '13 at 18:32
1

Beware if you have `doskey.exe` executing via `(HKCU||HKLM)\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor: reg_sz AutoRun`. Build caused `doskey` to crash and build to fail. I have filed [a ticket](https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/9488). – brandeded Dec 12 '13 at 16:33

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 01 '13 at 03:29

8

bootstrap.bat

bjam.exe --toolset=msvc-11

answered Dec 01 '13 at 03:29

Gank

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Or since boost 1.47.0 `b2 --toolset=msvc-11`. This answer seems far more correct than rerunning bootstrap from the dev shell and ignoring the upcomming warnings. – whY Apr 25 '17 at 06:17

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 03 '12 at 03:39

Check that your installation is correct by confirming the output of the following command:

C:\>echo %VS110COMNTOOLS%
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\Tools\

Here's some simple instructions to follow to get rid of warnings when bootstrapping: http://landoftheninja.blogspot.com/2011/11/visual-c-11-and-boost.html

Don't miss his follow-up post that deals with the automatic linking.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 14 '13 at 11:40

0

vs2012 ERROR: Cannot determine the location of the VS Common Tools folder.

vcvarsall.bat need call a "reg.exe" which in "C:\windows\system32\". if not in search path,will cause this error.

Add C:\windows\system32 to %PATH% will solved the problem.

answered Jul 14 '13 at 11:40

user610827

11
1

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 05 '14 at 13:28

0

In addition to above answers, I find BlueGo really helpful for building boost versions with MSVC 10/11/12. You can select different configurations and just select build, and it does the trick.

answered Aug 05 '14 at 13:28

Asterisk14

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Boost compiling with MSVC 11 (VS 2012)

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Update 2016-05-05

Linked