VS6 And Platform SDK 2003

Or how i managed to use Visual C++ 6.0 with the correct settings to use Platform SDK for windows 2003 R2 for every platform without worring about paths etc... all this with even Visual Studio 2005 installed... yup, it's a mess!!!

• Suppose your msdev.exe (Visual C++ 6 executable) is inside C:\Program Files\Msdev\bin
• Install the platform SDK, for example into the directory C:\PSdk2003
• Forget about the Visual Studio Registration menu, at least if you are here, it did not work..
• Go into the C:\PSdk2003 directory
• Create a small batch file called for example vc6.bat containing

SET MSVCDIR=D:\Develop\Microsoft Visual Studio
SET Lib=%MSVCDIR%\VC98\Lib;%MSVCDIR%\VC98\MFC\Lib
SET Bin=%MSVCDIR%\VC98\Bin;%MSVCDIR%\Common\MSDev98\Bin
SET Include=%MSVCDIR%\VC98\Include;%MSVCDIR%\VC98\MFC\Include;%MSVCDIR%\VC98\ATL\Include
SET Src=%MSVCDIR%\VC98\MFC\SRC;%MSVCDIR%\VC98\CRT\SRC;%MSVCDIR%\VC98\MFC\SRC
SET Path=C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;
  D:\Develop\cvsnt;D:\Develop\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\Bin;
  D:\Develop\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\MSDev98\Bin;%Bin%;%Src%
"C:\Program Files\Msdev\bin\msdev.exe" /useenv

• This way you will have the evnvironment variables used at that moment inside the just opened visual studio
• Now go on the Start Menu, inside "Open Build Environment Window" and open your preferred environment (AMD, XP, wetheaver)
• And run your vc6.bat. Now your visual studio will have all the correct stuff!

Happy coding!

Last modified on: July 22, 2012