Incuding directories of VS2010 for VS2005

Question

Can I use new SDK directories that comes with VS2010 for VS2005 ?

Answer 1

I expect you can, but unless you need that specific version the simplest thing to do would be to download the latest Windows SDK instead:

• Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4

This is more recent and can (IIRC) automatically integrate into VS2005.

If there is going to be an issue with this or with the VS2010 SDK then it will be because the .lib files are incompatible, e.g. through an object file format change or through a whole-program-optimisation intermediate representation change. However most if not all of the .libs in the SDK will just be DLL headers and so this shouldn't be an issue. (In the SDK release notes there is actually a link to a supported hotfix that improves compatibility between VS2005 and VS2008 objects but it sounds like VS2005 SP1 will usually be enough.)

There's a slim chance that the header files might not work (or might assume a different set of default defines) but in general the Windows header files are very careful with defines and version testing that I doubt this would be an issue.

If you're asking if you can use ATL + MFC from the later version then I think this is less clear cut, and may require a recompile of their sources in the older compiler. In that case I think your best option might be to upgrade to VS2010 if that's possible.