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I have just installed windows 10 and wanted to give a try on windows universal desktop apps. With the installation of Visual Studio community version there were no templates for this kind of project, and I installed it manually via VS. In the process of installation there were three things installing (as far as i remember it was some SDK version). Then I created a simple project under Visual C# -> Windows -> Blank App (Universal Windows), and when I build the app its says:

Could not find SDK "Microsoft.VCLibs, Version=14.0".

I already tried to search on google but only two results come at this time. I appreciate any help. Thanks.

lowselfesteemsucks
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  • Adding templates isn't enough, you are also missing the runtime files. Like VCLibs. Use the VS2015 community edition. – Hans Passant Jul 30 '15 at 14:02

6 Answers6

10

If you are indeed "missing the templates" for Universal Windows apps for your VS 2015 installation on a Winodws 8.1 or Windows 10 development system, then you should make sure you actually have the UWP tools installed. They are not installed by default. You have to use the 'Custom' install option and select them.

You can do this after installation by going to Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> select Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 and hit Change, then Modify, and then make sure that you have checked the Tools and Windows SDK 10 option under Universal Windows App Development Tools. If not, you can check it here and install it. See Universal Windows apps in .NET

If you already have these installed, but they still don't work you can try the Repair option instead of Modify

BTW, I know you mentioned C#, but for anyone wanting to use C++, be sure to enable that as well--this is also not installed by default. See Setup Changes in Visual Studio 2015 Affecting C++ Developers and Developing for Windows 10 with Visual C++ 2015.

Chuck Walbourn
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I tried the above answers with no success, I ended up rerunning the installer (alternatively you can use the steps in Chuck Walbourn's first link) and choosing repair instead of modify. It took a long time to run through but ended up solving this issue. Hope this helps anyone else who finds this thread.

JHall
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  • I also ended up with repairing the VS from the installer. I wouldn't know if anyone answer above will work, so it is better not to select any answer as right (correct me if I am wrong). Anyway thanks for your post, maybe someone will find it useful. – lowselfesteemsucks Nov 10 '15 at 22:51
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    Good point to mention the repair option as well. Often people have not actually installed them, but if they have and it still won't work the Repair is considered a better solution that trying to uninstall/reinstall. – Chuck Walbourn May 04 '16 at 16:43
2

Make sure you have the latest Windows SDK installed. It was released just yesterday. Any previous version (CTP) won't work with the latest Visual Studio 2015 Version. So if your SDK is e.g. 3 days old it just won't work. Get the latest here: https://dev.windows.com/en-us/downloads

Also see this blogpost that explains the compatibility topic: http://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2015/06/29/release-dates-and-compatibility-visual-studio-2015-and-windows-10-sdk/

Ivan Perevezentsev
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Daniel Meixner
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Visual Studio 2017

For anyone having this problem in Visual Studio 2017 using C# Universal Windows, following is the procedure to fix this:

  1. Right click on Solution in Solution Explorer and Click Add/New Project

  2. Go to Other Languages/Visual C++/Windows Universal in installed tab.

  3. It will show you the option to install the required tools:

enter image description here

Hope this helps :)

Umair M
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  • After working with a UWP project for months this error popped up. I did as you suggested but I am still getting the error..after VCLibs was installed. – Sean Anderson Jan 06 '19 at 06:39
  • Please have a look at a more [recent post](https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/e3f48ca6-a2f5-4691-9fb7-6bcb29c0f2b3/uwpcould-not-find-sdk-quotmicrosoftvclibs-version140quot?forum=vssetup&prof=required) and let me know if it worked for you – Umair M Jan 07 '19 at 17:56
  • I saw that post before landing here. I reinstalled AND repaired the Visual C++ Redists (x86 and x64) via the control panel (appwiz.cpl) and also completely blew away Visual Studio 2017 Pro and reinstalled it. After that I created a new Xamarin.Forms project with UWP and it gave the same error with a fresh project. My laptop setup is still building/running my app so I'm going to go through with a fine-tooth comb and compare environments. On day three of not coding. – Sean Anderson Jan 07 '19 at 19:18
  • FYI... I never did find this: Properties-Configuration Properties-General-Platform Toolset. The General tab does not exist--unless I am missing something. – Sean Anderson Jan 07 '19 at 19:31
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    After trying various restorative measures including repairing Windows, I had to do a fresh install of Windows 10 to "fix" this. This may have been caused by installing the VS 2019 preview, as a subsequent repair brought Windows back to the version that I'm running now as my clean install but did not fix the problem. Also of note, I joined the insider preview program and updated to 1809 from 1803 on my previous Windows 10 install--after I installed VS 2017 Pro. I did not experience issues until recently installing VS 2019 Pro preview/beta. No more previews on my main dev box! – Sean Anderson Jan 08 '19 at 13:44
  • Sorry to hear that you had to go long for the fix :) – Umair M Jan 08 '19 at 16:22
0

I'm having the same problem, i figured out that VCLibs are located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Kits\10\ExtensionSDKs So what i did: i copied the folder 10 and pasted it into the Windows folder instead of Windows Kits and renamed it to v10.0

that being fixed, it gave me an other error: SDK folder containing 'UAP.props' for 'UAP 7.0' cannot be located. I didnt figured that one out yet and I also don't know if this is a good workaround.

Schteven
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Edit your .csproj and add these references:

<SDKReference Include="Microsoft.VCLibs, Version=14.0">
  <Name>Visual C++ 2015 Runtime for Universal Windows Platform Apps</Name>
</SDKReference>
<SDKReference Include="Microsoft.VCLibs.120, Version=14.0">
  <Name>Microsoft.VCLibs.120</Name>
</SDKReference>
galobart
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    now it says: `Could not find SDK "Microsoft.VCLibs, Version=14.0"` and `Could not find SDK "Microsoft.VCLibs.120, Version=14.0"` – Liero Feb 09 '17 at 15:29