Can't build ARM32 apps with MSVC anymore

[ifarbod]

I have all the C++ SDKs needed for building ARM32 installed, I'm on Visual Studio 2026, Windows 11.

I was able to build ARM32 apps just fine with VS 2022.

xmake f -c -p windows -a arm -m debug --toolchain=msvc --vs_toolset=14.3 --vs_sdkver=10.0.22621.0 -vD

checking for vswhere.exe ... C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vswhere.exe
checking for Microsoft Visual Studio (arm) version ... no
error: @programdir\core\main.lua:272: @programdir\actions\config\main.lua:159: target(rtanim): toolchain not found!
stack traceback:
    [C]: in function 'error'
    [@programdir\core\base\os.lua:1093]: in function 'raiselevel'
    [@programdir\core\sandbox\modules\utils.lua:143]: in function 'assert'
    [@programdir\actions\config\main.lua:159]: in function '_check_target_toolchains'
    [@programdir\actions\config\main.lua:409]:
    [C]: in function 'xpcall'
    [@programdir\core\base\utils.lua:246]:
    [@programdir\core\base\task.lua:495]: in function 'run'
    [@programdir\core\main.lua:270]: in function 'cotask'
    [@programdir\core\base\scheduler.lua:514]:

stack traceback:
        [C]: in function 'error'
        @programdir\core\base\os.lua:1093: in function 'os.raiselevel'
        (...tail calls...)
        @programdir\core\main.lua:272: in upvalue 'cotask'
        @programdir\core\base\scheduler.lua:514: in function <@programdir\core\base\scheduler.lua:507>

[waruqi]

try clean global cache first?

xmake g -c
xmake f -c
xmake -rv

[ifarbod]

VCToolsVersion = "14.50.35717",

your toolset is 14.5, but you set --vs_toolset=14.3, you can remove it.

14.3 not found

But I have it installed just fine, Xmake cannot find the ARM32 toolchain no matter what I do

With VS2022 it works, with VS2026 it doesn't

[waruqi]

You can debug vcvarsall.bat, xmake depends on it. The VS information it provides does not include the toolset version you need.

xmake/xmake/modules/detect/sdks/find_vstudio.lua

Line 284 in 810f3e5

file:print("call \"%s\" %s %s -vcvars_ver=%s > nul", vcvarsall, arch, opt.sdkver or "", opt.toolset or "")

[ifarbod]

Looks like ARM32 support was removed from vcvarsall - so Xmake needs to find it with a workaround

Syntax:
    vcvarsall.bat [arch] [platform_type] [winsdk_version] [-vcvars_ver=vc_version] [-vcvars_spectre_libs=spectre_mode]
where :
    [arch]: x64 | x86 | arm64 | x64_x86 | x64_arm64 | x86_x64 | x86_arm64 | arm64_x64 | arm64_x86

[waruqi]

xmake will only use vcvarsall; if it is deprecated for arm32, xmake will not support it.