Minimum C/C++ MSVC build environment in Windows

It will only use disk space less than 1G.

At the first, we need VScode, MSVC and Windows SDK. I use vcpython27, which contains MSVC and Windows SDK for minimality.

You can download these applications through the below links.

• https://code.visualstudio.com/
• http://aka.ms/vcpython27

We can't inherit the build environment from the global environment instead of using "Visual C++ 2008 64-bit Command Prompt". Then run "code", or "code ." in the directory where your project is.

Finally, configure ".vscode\launch.json", ".vscode\tasks.json", ".vscode\c_cpp_properties.json" like below.

c_cpp_properties.json

{
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Win32",
            "includePath": [
                "${workspaceFolder}/**",
                "C:\\Users\\User\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Common\\Microsoft\\Visual C++ for Python\\9.0\\VC\\include",
                "C:\\Users\\User\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Common\\Microsoft\\Visual C++ for Python\\9.0\\WinSDK\\Include"
            ],
            "defines": [
                "_DEBUG",
                "UNICODE",
                "_UNICODE"
            ],
            "cStandard": "c17",
            "cppStandard": "c++17",
            "intelliSenseMode": "windows-msvc-x64"
        }
    ],
    "version": 4
}

tasks.json

{
    // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
    // for the documentation about the tasks.json format
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "cl-build",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "cl /Zi test.c",
            "problemMatcher": [],
            "group": {
                "kind": "build",
                "isDefault": true
            }
        }
    ]
}

launch.json

{
    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [

        {
            "name": "(Windows) Launch",
            "type": "cppvsdbg",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/test.exe",
            "args": [],
            "stopAtEntry": false,
            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
            "environment": [],
            "console": "externalTerminal",
            "preLaunchTask": "cl-build"
        }
    ]
}