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Build environment

This describes how to setup the build environment for pywin32.

Double check the compiler version you need in the Python wiki but note that Python 3.5 -> 3.13 all use version 14.X of the compiler, which, confusingly, report themselves as V.19XX (eg, note in Python's banner, 3.5's "MSC v.1900", even 3.9b4's "MSC v.1924")

This compiler first shipped with Visual Studio 2015, although Visual Studio 2017, 2019 and 2022 all have this compiler available, just not installed by default.

In the Visual Studio Installer:

For Visual Studio 2017

Locate the "Desktop development with C++" section:

Ensure the following components are installed:

  • VC++ 2015.3 v14.00 (v140) toolset for desktop
  • Windows 10 SDK and UCRT SDK
  • Visual C++ MFC for x86 and x64

if you want to cross-compile for ARM, you will need at least the following (from "Individual Components")

  • Visual C++ compilers and libraries for ARM64
  • Visual C++ for MFC for ARM64

(You should be able to check everything you need is installed by opening a command prompt and executing:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat" x86_amd64 10.0.18362.0 -vcvars_ver=14.0

if that works, then executing:

cl

should report the compiler version:

Microsoft (R) C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 19.00.24234.1 for x64

)

Note however that it's not necessary to configure the environment in this way to build pywin32 - it's build process should find these tools automatically.

For Visual Studio 2019

  • Install the Build Tools for Visual Studio 2019 (vs_BuildTools.exe ~ 1 MB)

  • Maybe stop your virus scanner

  • In Visual Studio Installer:

    • Select Visual Studio Build Tools 2019
      • Press Modify
        • In Visual Studio Build Tools 2019
          • Check C++ build tools
            • In the menu to the right, check:
              • MSVC v142 - VS 2019 C++ x64/x86 build tools
              • Windows 10 SDK (latest offered I guess? At time of writing, 10.0.18362)
              • C++ MFC for latest v142 build tools (x86 & x64)
              • C++ ATL for latest v142 build tools
          • If building for ARM64 (optional), select the "Individual Components" tab, and search for and select: - MSVC v142 - VS 2019 C++ ARM64 build tools - C++ MFC for latest v142 build tools (ARM64) - C++ ATL for latest v142 build tools (ARM64)
          • Press Install (~ 4.6 GB shown in the overview, but ~ 1.1 GB shown during download; approximately double with the ARM64 components)

  • Restart your virus scanner

  • Restart

For Visual Studio 2022

  • Install the Visual Studio 2022 (VisualStudioSetup.exe ~ 4.22 MB)

  • Maybe stop your virus scanner

  • In Visual Studio Installer:

    • Select Visual Studio Build Tools 2022
      • Press Modify
        • In Visual Studio Build Tools 2022
          • Check Desktop development with C++
            • In the menu to the right, check:
              • MSVC v143 - VS 2022 C++ x64/x86 build tools
              • Windows 10 SDK
              • C++ MFC for latest v143 build tools (x86 & x64)
              • C++ ATL for latest v143 build tools
          • If building for ARM64 (optional), select the "Individual Components" tab, and search for and select: - MSVC v143 - VS 2022 C++ ARM64/ARM64EC build tools (Latest) - C++ MFC for latest v143 build tools (ARM64/ARM64EC) - C++ ATL for latest v143 build tools (ARM64/ARM64EC)
          • Press Install

  • Restart your virus scanner

  • Restart

Microsoft Message Compiler

Search the executable

cd "c:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits"
dir /b /s mc.exe

Append location to the path (example)

set "path=%path%;c:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.18362.0\x64"

Test with

where mc

(Note that the above process for 'mc' doesn't appear necessary for VS2017, but @mhammond hasn't tried with VS2019 - please share your experiences!)

Build

One everything is setup, just execute:

python setup.py -q install

from the pywin32 directory.

Cross-compiling for ARM64 (Microsoft Visual C++ 14.1 and up)

  • Follow the For Visual Studio XXXX instructions above and pick the optional ARM64 build tools

  • Download prebuilt Python ARM64 binaries to a temporary location on your machine. You will need this location in a later step.

    python .github\workflows\download-arm64-libraries.py "<temporary path>"
    • This script downloads a Python ARM64 build from NuGet that matches the version you used to run it.

  • Setup the cross-compilation environment:

    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\XXXX\BuildTools\vc\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat" x86_arm64

  • Update setuptools and set the following environment variables to ensure it is used:

    set DISTUTILS_USE_SDK=1

  • Build the extensions, passing the directory from earlier. You may optionally add the bdist_wheel command to generate a wheel.

    python setup.py build_ext -L "<temporary path from earlier>" bdist_wheel
    • If you are not using an initialized build environment, you will need to specify the build_ext, build and bdist_wheel commands and pass --plat-name win-arm64 to each of them separately. Otherwise you may get a mixed platform build and/or linker errors.

  • Copy the built wheel to the target machine and install directly:

    python -m pip install "<path to wheel>"