Visual Studio / VCPKG Build - ARM

Compilation and cross-compilation.

Download Visual Studio Build Tools

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vs_BuildTools.exe' -OutFile "$env:TEMP/vs_BuildTools.exe"

Install Visual Studio Build Tools

When installing onto an ARM device, this will include ARM64 build tools as well as x86 and x64 ¹. Note that you'll need to explicitly specify ARM64 build tools ("Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.ARM64" ²) to enable cross-compilation targeting ARM64 AND to build natively on ARM64.

& "$env:TEMP/vs_BuildTools.exe" --passive --wait --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.VCTools --includeRecommended --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.ARM64

Add CMake to PATH

Visual Studio Build Tools includes cmake, but it's not put into the PATH.

$env:PATH += ";${Env:ProgramFiles(x86)}\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\BuildTools\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\CMake\CMake\bin"

Install VCPKG

Install to \vcpkg for convenience.

git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg.git /vcpkg

\vcpkg\bootstrap-vcpkg.bat

Build natively (x64 on x64, ARM on arm)

cmake.exe -B build -S . -D CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE='/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake'

cmake.exe --build build --parallel --config Debug

build\Debug\helloworld.exe

Cross compile for ARM (on x64 device)

Important: VCPKG manifest mode doesn't work if build path includes a backslash. So don't use something like -B build\ARM64!

Specify platform name using -A ARM64. Could also use CMAKE_GENERATOR_PLATFORM or CMAKE_VS_PLATFORM_NAME

cmake.exe -B build_ARM64 -S . -D CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE='/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake' -A ARM64

cmake.exe --build build_ARM64 --parallel --config Debug

Check EXE with dumpbin

Add dumpbin to PATH

On ARM device:

$dumpbin = "${Env:ProgramFiles(x86)}\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.35.32215\bin\Hostarm64\x64\dumpbin.exe"

On x64 device:

$dumpbin = "${Env:ProgramFiles(x86)}\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.35.32215\bin\Hostx64\x64\dumpbin.exe"

Check "machine" type

& $dumpbin /HEADERS build_ARM64\Debug\helloworld.exe | Select-String 'machine' -SimpleMatch

References

cmake - Cross compiling for x64_arm with MSVC tools on Windows - Stack Overflow

Cross Compiling With CMake — Mastering CMake

Cross-compiling under Visual Studio (#18225) · Issues · CMake - CMake · GitLab

Footnotes

1. See Visual Studio on Arm-powered devices ↩

2. See the Component Directory ↩