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At the end of C++Builder Seattle 10 Update 1 installation, Embarcadero's main setup starts an additional embedded setup program called Microsoft Windows 10 SDK Installer. This is what it looks like, in case you forgot:

enter image description here

This installer then starts installing the original RTM Windows 10 SDK as follows:

enter image description here

Why does C++Builder install this? How does C++Builder link with the SDK - what exactly is it using? If I install a newer Windows SDK (e.g. the one released Nov 2015) instead, will it work? (It's hard to imagine how, since everything is set up in the IDE to use files from C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\17.0\include\windows\sdk and these files include changes made by Embarcadero to the SDK, e.g. special bcc32 pragma statements.)

I have analyzed the installation files of RAD Studio to try to figure out what's going on, but I don't have a good answer for WHY they are doing what they do:

  • On your RAD Studio ISO, examine ``\Install\Setup.exe` in 7-Zip.
  • There is a setup.res file; open that inside 7-Zip also.
  • Inside setup.res you will find the MSSDKInstall.exe that you see in the first screenshot above. Open it inside 7-Zip.
  • You'll then see several files:
    • MSSDKInstall.msi: if you open this up with Orca you'll see that this is a very simple installer that installs some Bluetooth header files into the Embarcadero include directory.
    • OFFLINE directory: contains 8 different Windows SDK header files apparently used by the MSI: BluetoothAPIs.h, bluetoothleapis.h, bthdef.h, bthledef.h, bthsdpdef.h, no_sal2.h, winapifamily.h, ws2bth.h.

It additionally appears that this separate installer conflicts with the main RAD Studio installer. The main installer also installs these same header files. Then this installer is run, and replaces these files. Then it kicks off the official Microsoft Windows 10 SDK installer for some unknown reason. If you uninstall the Embarcadero SDK installer package, it deletes those 8 header files entirely (thus the conflict).

So: (1) why didn't they just include those 8 header files in the main installation - what was the point of all this, (2) why do they start the official Microsoft Windows 10 SDK installer, (3) is there some integration I'm not aware of?

The official docs are near useless: Installation Notes: Installing the Windows 10 SDK.

The installation wizard of RAD Studio Seattle allows you to install the Microsoft Windows 10 SDK, which adds headers for the Windows API.

Note: The Windows 10 SDK is only a requisite for C++Builder in order to support direct calls to the Bluetooth and the BluetoothLE Windows APIs.

But Microsoft's SDK installer does not put the headers into the Embarcadero include directory. It is, in fact, Embarcadero who does this by bundling the files in their own installer, as evidenced above.

Mike Torrettinni
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James Johnston
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    1) The SDK install is optional; you can choose not to install it when configuring the installation. 2) The include files cannot be placed into the EMBT include folder, because they're part of the SDK and not BDS. 3) The SDK (as you've indicated in your quote) is only required to be installed if you're planning on using direct calls to BT and BTLE WinAPI calls. 4) EMBT has no control over which installer is used for the SDK; the installer is supplied by MS. Using a different installer violates MS's TOU. If it's not working the way you'd like, you'd need to contact MS to get it modified. – Ken White Mar 16 '16 at 22:15
  • @KenWhite: On #1, by "SDK install" do you mean the Embarcadero SDK installer, or the official Microsoft one? On #2 the Embarcadero SDK installer does EXACTLY this; I verified it by diffing the Embarcadero installation before & after installation of the MSSDKInstall.exe setup. – James Johnston Mar 16 '16 at 22:24
  • #1 refers to installing the SDK via the Rad Studio installer; it's optional. You can choose not to install it. If you choose to have the RAD Studio installation also install the SDK, the MS SDK installer is used to do so. 2) The include files were not put into my RDS include folder; the MSSDK folder was added to the INCLUDE environmental variable. I don't have any of them in my $(BDSINCLUDE) folders. – Ken White Mar 16 '16 at 22:29

2 Answers2

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The installation of the Windows 10 SDK is just Embarcadero fulfilling a a requirement from Microsoft. It has no influence onto your RAD Studio installation. In other words: if you cancel that setup you are doing no harm.

Uwe Raabe
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    Wow - interesting claim - do you know what requirement that might be? Maybe with a reference link? – James Johnston Mar 16 '16 at 21:02
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    No link, but IIRC, Marco Cantù mentioned it in a webinar. There was a problem with the Seattle Update 1 Installer removing that SDK, which itself removed some needed files (see https://community.embarcadero.com/blogs/entry/pay-attention-with-windows-10-sdk-installer-when-upgrading-10-seattle). This error was unnoticed up to release just because nobody ever installed that SDK in the first place. – Uwe Raabe Mar 16 '16 at 22:15
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As mentioned here You need to have the Windows 10 SDK on your development system, to create the .appx packages.

Dreamer64
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