[Windows-2022] Multiple VC Build Tools will be removed on May, 13

Breaking changes

We will commence the procedure of removing redundant Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC components and leave only the latest available version of some oh them.

Target date

The images rollout process will start on May, 13 and take 3-4 days.

The motivation for the changes

Due to numerous reports regarding errors when using Visual Studio 2022 with multiple pre-installed versions of VC build tools, we are compelled to cease the distribution of alternative versions of the component. Detailed description of the problem can be found here. The list of previously opened issues: #9670, #9404, #9086, #8891, #7867, #7832, #6107, #6091. Therefore, starting from May 6th, we will commence the procedure of removing redundant VC components and leave only the latest available version. We'll possibly reconsider this decision once the problem is resolved.

List of the VC components which are expected to be installed (if you notice that some useful base VC component is missing - indicate that in the comments, we will consider adding it):

Package	Version
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.14.29.16.11.ARM	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.14.29.16.11.ARM64	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ASAN	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATL	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATL.ARM	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATL.ARM.Spectre	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATL.ARM64	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATL.ARM64.Spectre	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATL.Spectre	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATLMFC	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATLMFC.Spectre	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CLI.Support	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CMake.Project	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.CoreIde	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.DiagnosticTools	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Llvm.Clang	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Llvm.ClangToolset	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.MFC.ARM	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.MFC.ARM.Spectre	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.MFC.ARM64	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.MFC.ARM64.Spectre	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Modules.x86.x64	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Redist.14.Latest	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Redist.MSM	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Runtimes.ARM.Spectre	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Runtimes.ARM64.Spectre	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Runtimes.ARM64EC.Spectre	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Runtimes.x86.x64.Spectre	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.TestAdapterForBoostTest	latest
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.TestAdapterForGoogleTest	latest

Possible impact

Builds that require non-latest components missing from the list above will be broken.

Platforms affected

[x] Azure DevOps
[x] GitHub Actions

Runner images affected

[ ] Ubuntu 20.04
[ ] Ubuntu 22.04
[ ] macOS 11
[ ] macOS 12
[ ] macOS 13
[ ] macOS 13 Arm64
[ ] macOS 14
[ ] macOS 14 Arm64
[ ] Windows Server 2019
[x] Windows Server 2022

Mitigation ways

Missing workloads can be installed manually in runtime. We recommend to uninstall unsupported workloads before installing new, it might be done using this snippet.


    steps:
      - name: Delete components
        run: |
                Set-Location "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\"
                $InstallPath = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Enterprise"
                $componentsToRemove= @(
                    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATL.ARM"
                    "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.ATL.ARM.Spectre"
                )
                [string]$workloadArgs = $componentsToRemove | ForEach-Object {" --remove " +  $_}
                $Arguments = ('/c', "vs_installer.exe", 'modify', '--installPath', "`"$InstallPath`"",$workloadArgs, '--quiet', '--norestart', '--nocache')
                # should be run twice
                $process = Start-Process -FilePath cmd.exe -ArgumentList $Arguments -Wait -PassThru -WindowStyle Hidden
                $process = Start-Process -FilePath cmd.exe -ArgumentList $Arguments -Wait -PassThru -WindowStyle Hidden

      - name: Install components
        run: |
                Set-Location "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\"
                $InstallPath = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Enterprise"
                $componentsToRemove= @(
                  "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.14.39.17.9.ATL.ARM"
                  "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.14.39.17.9.ATL.ARM.Spectre"
                )
                [string]$workloadArgs = $componentsToRemove | ForEach-Object {" --add " +  $_}
                $Arguments = ('/c', "vs_installer.exe", 'modify', '--installPath', "`"$InstallPath`"",$workloadArgs, '--quiet', '--norestart', '--nocache')
                # should be run twice
                $process = Start-Process -FilePath cmd.exe -ArgumentList $Arguments -Wait -PassThru -WindowStyle Hidden
                $process = Start-Process -FilePath cmd.exe -ArgumentList $Arguments -Wait -PassThru -WindowStyle Hidden

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