Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 Release Notes

Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 Release Notes

 

1. Welcome

2. License Agreement

3. Installing and Uninstalling the Windows SDK

4. Build Environment

5. Documentation

6. Known Issues    

7. Windows SDK Product Support and Feedback

 

 

1. Welcome

Welcome to the Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4.

The Windows SDK contains a set of tools, code samples, documentation, compilers, headers, and libraries that developers can use to create applications that run on Microsoft Windows. You can use the Windows SDK to write applications using the native (Win32/COM) or managed (.NET Framework) programming model.

For access to additional resources and information, such as downloads, forum posts, and the Windows SDK team blog, go to the Windows SDK Developer Center.

 

1.1 What’s New in the Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 Release?

·         Smaller/Faster: at less than 600MB, this SDK is one third the size of the Windows 7 RTM SDK; it installs faster and has a smaller footprint.

·         Cleaner setup: features on setup screens have been grouped into native, managed, and common buckets to help you choose the components you need faster.

·         New Microsoft Help System v1.0: this brand new system was first introduced with Visual Studio 2010.  You can import just the content you need from the MSDN cloud, and update it according to your schedule.

·         Visual C++ 2010 compilers/CRT with improved compilation performance and speed.  These are the same compilers and toolset that ships with Visual Studio 2010.

·         New command line build environment that uses MSBuild 4.0, now the common Microsoft build system for all languages, and supporting the new Visual C++ project type .vcxproj.

 

1.2 What Does the Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 Support?

·         Operating Systems: You can install this SDK on and/or create applications for Windows 7, Server 2008 R2, Server 2008, XPSP3, Vista, and Windows Server 2003 R2.

·         Platform architecture: you can install this SDK on and/or create applications for platform chipsets X86, X64, and IA64 (Itanium).

·         .NET Framework: you can use the SDK resources to create applications that target .NET Framework versions 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.

·         Visual Studio: you can use the resources in this SDK with Visual Studio versions 2005, 2008, and 2010, including Express editions. (Not all features work with all versions of Visual Studio. For example, you can’t use the .NET 4 tools with Visual Studio 2008.)

·         Setup/Install options: Win SDK v7.1 will be available through an ISO or a Web setup download and install experience.  Web setup allows you to install selected components of the SDK without having to download the entire SDK.  The DVD ISO setup allows you to download the entire SDK to install later, or share among different computers. 

 

 

1.3 What’s Been Removed?

1.3.1 Documentation

The DExplore document viewer that shipped with previous SDKs is no longer delivered via the SDK, and documentation is no longer delivered in-box with the SDK.  You’ll be prompted at the end of SDK setup to download documentation to your computer using the Microsoft Help System if you wish to do so.

 

1.3.2 Managed Samples

Managed samples have been removed from this release of the Windows SDK.  Managed samples can be found on Code Gallery.

 

1.3.3 Tools

The following tools were included in the Windows SDK for Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 release, but are not included in this release:

Tools Removed in the Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .Net Framework 4

·         UISpy.exe

·         Wpt_arch.msi

 

 

1.4 Required Resources

This release of the Windows SDK does not include a .NET Framework Redistributable Package.

 

.NET Framework 4 (Required)

·         The Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 requires the RTM version of the full, extended .NET Framework 4 Redistributable Components Download .NET Framework | Free official downloads  

·         The .NET Framework 4 Redistributable Components must be installed prior to installing the Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4

NOTE:  The Client version of the .NET Framework 4 is not sufficient and the SDK will not install on a computer that has a pre-release (Beta or RC) version of the .NET Framework 4.

 

---

2. License Agreement

The contents included in the Windows SDK are licensed to you, the end user. Your use of the SDK is subject to the terms of an End User License Agreement (EULA) accompanying the SDK and located in the \License subdirectory. You must read and accept the terms of the EULA before you access or use the SDK. If you do not agree to the terms of the EULA, you are not authorized to use the SDK.

---

3. Installing, Uninstalling the Windows SDK

To optimize your Windows SDK setup experience, we strongly recommend that you install the latest updates and patches from Microsoft Update before you begin installing the Windows SDK.

3.1 Windows SDK Disk Space Requirements

The complete installation of the Windows SDK requires less than 600MB, this SDK is one third the size of the Windows 7 RTM SDK; it installs faster and has a smaller footprint. Please verify that the computer you are installing to has the minimum required disk space before beginning setup. If the minimum required disk space is not available, setup will return a fatal error.

 

3.2 How to Uninstall SDK Components

When you uninstall the SDK through Programs and Features (Add/Remove Programs on pre-Vista OS's) most of the SDK components will be uninstalled automatically. However, a few shared components installed by the SDK may need to be uninstalled separately. This guide provides instructions for uninstalling those shared components.

 

To uninstall shared SDK components:

1.    From the Start Menu, go to Control Panel, Programs and Features (Add/Remove Programs on pre-Vista OS's)

2.    Select and remove the following entry:

·    Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 (7.1) (the Windows SDK core-component files)

3.    Remove the shared components. This list provides some of the components you may see. If you are running a 64 bit version of Windows you may see both 32 bit (x86) and 64 bit (x64, IA-64) versions of the components listed:

·         Application Verifier

·         Debugging Tools for Windows

·         Windows Performance Toolkit

·         Microsoft Help Viewer 1.0

·         Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable

·         Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Standard Edition

 

4. Build Environment

4.1 Moving From the VCBuild to the MSBuild 4.0 Environment

Visual C++ 2010 moved to newer build system (MSBuild v4.0) to provide better performance, scalability and extensibility. In order for the build system migration to happen the project file format in Visual C++ 2010 had to change to a different format in order to be compatible with the new MSBuild v4.0 file format (earlier versions of Visual C++ have used VCBuild as their build system).  The extension of the new Visual C++ 2010 project file has been changed from “.vcproj” to “.vcxproj”.  Project files with the “.vcproj” extension can be upgraded using the vcupgrade tool (included in this release of the SDK).  For more information on how to upgrade a project file, see section titled “Upgrading Projects to Visual C++ 2010.”

 

4.2 Setting Build Environment Switches

To set specific targets in the build environment:

·         Launch the Windows SDK build environment - From the Start menu, click on  All Programs > Microsoft Windows SDK v7.1 > Windows SDK 7.1 Command Prompt

·         Set the build environment -  At the prompt, type:
setenv  [/Debug | /Release][/x86 | /x64 | /ia64 ][/vista | /xp | /2003 | /win7][-h | /?]