Microsoft Windows SDK Blog

So that we can bring you a great resource for information about developing Windows apps, we want to focus our conversations about the Windows SDK on the Windows Dev Center and the Windows 8 app developer blog . These sites will be the home for future...

An update to the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 (Windows SDK 7.1) is now available from the Microsoft Download Center. This update addresses the issue where Visual C++ Compilers and libraries that are installed with the Windows...

We’ve identified an issue for users of the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 (Windows SDK v7.1). If you have downloaded and installed the stand-alone Windows SDK v7.1 and you are using the x64 or IA64 compilers that were included...

We've received feedback about previous versions of the Windows SDK related to the large size of the download. To partially mitigate this, the latest SDK now gives users the choice of whether to download the documentation to their machine for offline viewing...

The RTM release of the Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 is now available for download in either ISO or Web Setup format. Here are a few key features about this Software Development Kit (SDK): · Smaller/Faster : at less than 600MB...

The upcoming Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 (WinSDK v7.1) is packed with new features supporting developers creating applications for Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 or targeting the .NET Framework 4. This SDK will be released soon after the...

What to expect from Windows SDK build environment in Windows SDK v7.1 The Windows SDK command line build environment that ships with Windows 7.1 SDK will include several custom props and targets files that will provide the ability to build both native...

Windows 7 offers a built-in Windows Troubleshooting Platform (WTP) that consolidates the typical user’s support and troubleshooting needs into a single consistent user interface. Open Control Panel and search for “troubleshooting”. You’ll see some built...

SecAnnotate can be used to analyze your assemblies, especially APTCA assemblies in order to find transparency violations without needing code coverage from a test case.  The static analysis provided by SecAnnotate is valuable in ensuring that your...

The Windows 7 SDK comes with several components, including tools, documentation, headers and libraries, and samples. In this series of blogs, I’ll go through a number of sample that particularly target the new features in Windows 7. I’ll talk...

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 introduce the new framework for building web services in C++ code. Windows Web Services API (WWSAPI) supports the core set of protocols for SOAP-based web services. Developers can use WWSAPI in applications where they...

This article describes how to set VC directory paths in Visual Studio 2008 to ensure that the most recent version of rpcsal.h is found. This article applies ONLY to users of DirectX SDK releases November 2008 and older. When using DirectX SDK (March 2009...

The Function Discovery API, introduced in Vista, serves as an abstraction layer between applications and devices. This API allows applications to discover devices by function rather than lower level details such as bus or connection type. The Function...

This post describes common installation problems with the Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (released August 2009), and workarounds for each issue. The Windows SDK for Windows 7 is available for download in both ISO and Web Setup format...

This post describes a problem with the Windows SDK Configuration Tool, which is used to set the version of Windows SDK headers, libraries and tools you wish to build with in the Visual Studio or Windows SDK build environments. Issue: When you launch...

This article applies to the Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1. Read these other posts to troubleshoot issues with the Windows SDK for Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 or to troubleshoot issues with the Windows SDK Update for Vista...

Issue : If you install the Windows SDK for Windows Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 , on top of Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack1, some CRT files will revert back to RTM version. ( See this post for more information about this issue ) This can cause...

Issue : If you install the Windows SDK for Windows Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 , on top of any post-RTM Visual Studio update (such as a Service Pack or Feature Pack), some CRT files will be reverted back to RTM version. Cause : This problem...

Changes have been made to the Windows SDK build environment and how the SDK interacts with MSBUILD and Visual Studio 2008. This post applies to the RTM release of the Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 . What changed with the Windows...

The RTM release of the Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 is now available for download in either ISO or Web Setup format. The Web setup format allows you to install a specific subset of the SDK you select without having to download...

This is the post number 11, the final article in a series that describes new and updated samples in the Windows 7 SDK. The following is a new COM+ Spy sample that was updated to support Windows 7. See also: New Win32 Samples in Windows SDK for...

This is post number 10 in a series that describes new and updated samples in the Windows 7 SDK. The following table lists samples that illustrate Windows XML Paper Specification (XPS), which provides users with a consistent document appearance regardless...

This is post number 9 in a series that describes new and updated samples in the Windows 7 SDK. The following table lists samples that pertain to Windows User Interface , and are new to Windows 7 or updated to support Windows 7. Technologies include Shell...

This is post number 8 in a series that describe new and updated samples in the Windows 7 SDK. The following table lists samples that pertain to Windows Base technologies , and are new to Windows 7 or updated to support Windows 7. This includes technologies...

The upcoming release of the Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 contains many new tools, some of which are brand new, some which are being reintroduced into the SDK and some of which are being made available via the SDK for the first...