Visual Studio 2012 Express

Microsoft has released several different versions of Visual Studio 2012 Express, each targeting a different type of application (Web, Metro, Desktop). I’m interested in Metro apps so I can target the new Windows 8 app store. But, I also need to build desktop applications since I have an editor that’s used to create scenes, import assets, etc.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a problem with the Metro version and its ability to build static C++ libraries that depend on D3D11. It generates the following error:

error C1083: Cannot open include file ‘d3d10sdklayers.h’: No such file or directory

Apparently, someone else has already run into this issue, but no resolution was ever posted.

For now, the easiest workaround is to use the 90-day trial version of Visual Studio 2012 Professional. After that, it’s either purchase Pro or hope for a Microsoft fix.