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I'd like to recompile an old source code of a development program which requires tools inside Visual Studio 97.

I was a little confused if all the Windows 95/98/ME SDKs delivered after Visual Studio 6.0 are compatible with Visual studio 97. I do have a windows 98 DDK, but out of experience I know the proper SDK should be installed first.

I would like to know which MSDN SDK/DDK release is the latest to be compatible with both Visual Studio 97 and Windows 9*/ME.

Thank you in advance!

Edit: I found the SDK Darran Rowe mentioned here:

https://archive.org/details/MSDN_Development_Platform_Disc_6_October_1999_X05-05207_1999

Ciel Ruby
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    Why not recompile in newest visual studio? – user2120666 Apr 13 '19 at 09:52
  • Because I've got this huge old source code that gives a lot of errors in the newest Visual Studio, It's made for Visual C++ 5 and Masm 6.11D which is really incompatible with VS 2019 – Ciel Ruby Apr 13 '19 at 09:56
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    Would upgrading to VS6 be acceptable? – Anders Apr 13 '19 at 10:22
  • not really, that uses a newer version of Masm and visual C++ 6.0, but I could give it a try. But than I'd and up asking the same question. Sorry for the late reply, thank you both for commenting so quick! – Ciel Ruby Apr 13 '19 at 13:47
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    If I recall correctly, February 2003 Platform SDK was the last one compatible with Windows 95. A quick search found [this site](https://docs.moodle.org/dev/FebruaryPlatformSDK). Not an official Microsoft site (Microsoft no longer publishes it), use at your own risk. – Igor Tandetnik Apr 13 '19 at 18:51
  • Thank you so much, but in an other thread I started is stated that this one would not be compatible with Visual C++ 5.0: https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/7a9ca16c-e5e9-4e19-923b-ed8b4d7865b8/which-windows-sdk-is-comptaible-with-vs-97?forum=visualstudiogeneral – Ciel Ruby Apr 13 '19 at 20:41
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    I'm a bit confused on why the SDK matters so much. You've got this old code that only compiles with Visual Studio 97. Those older versions of Visual Studio install their own SDK (headers and libs). So why not just install those legacy tools on a clean VM machine and be done with it. – selbie Apr 13 '19 at 22:02
  • Last time I tried I didn't got it to build, Can you tell me, is this because I run it inside of Windows Me instead of Windows 95/98 SE? So I think I need the SDK. – Ciel Ruby Apr 14 '19 at 06:09
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    I asked about VS6 because we (NSIS) are using that for Win95 and I know the exact setup. Another issue might be the lack of msvcrt.dll on 95 but you could statically link the CRT to get around that. – Anders Apr 14 '19 at 09:50
  • Thank you for your respond, it gives a lot of insight of what could have gone wrong. I used Windows ME by the way, but the PSDK, I still have to find, is released before that, so that can probably also be what I have done wrong. If I'll face the issue again, this would certainly help me. – Ciel Ruby Apr 14 '19 at 14:30

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Thank you all for your comments!

Thankfully to Igor Tandetnik, I finally know which SDK is the latest Compatible with Windows 9*.

I also started a post in the MSDN Forum: https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/7a9ca16c-e5e9-4e19-923b-ed8b4d7865b8/which-windows-sdk-is-comptaible-with-vs-97?forum=visualstudiogeneral

Thanks to one user there named Darran Rowe, We know the following:"the last version to be compatible with Visual C++ 5 is the Microsoft Platform SDK September 1999".

So with that said, we established that the latest SDK which is fully compatible with both Visual Studio 97 and Windows 9* is the Microsoft PSDK September 1999 edition, released in October, 1999 and some SDKs released later may be compatible with Windows 9*, but apparently not with VS 97.

Found it:

https://archive.org/details/MSDN_Development_Platform_Disc_6_October_1999_X05-05207_1999

However, I still have to find out if it will build.

If someone knows another reason why building doesn't work?

Please leave an answer below, and I guarantee I'll (temporarily) vote the first answer, for motivation.

Thank you all for your support and I hope this helped all of you!

Sincerely,

Kevin Crans

Ciel Ruby
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    There are too many possible reasons "why building doesn't work". It would be a lot easier if you show error messages. A least have you tried to install Service Pack 3 for Visual Studio 97? – Daniel Sęk Apr 14 '19 at 10:37
  • Yep, It's the latest service pack for Visual Studio 97 Enterprise, but I can't give you the error message, because I deleted the Virtual Machine and I have to install the PSDK before the DDK before Visual Studio, but first I'll have to install Windows 98 instead of ME. Not on Windows 10, because environment variables. – Ciel Ruby Apr 14 '19 at 14:33