The cause of this error is that the version of the Windows SDK built into your VS2008 environment is older than the project you're trying to build. It isn't supposed to work.
What do do? It is unlikely (but not impossible) that editing something somewhere will fix it. I wouldn't do that.
You could update your VS to a later version. That would be the best solution.
You could recreate the project supplied by your friend by transferring the files to a new project created on your VS2008.