Starting with Visual Studio 2026, we are introducing a new support lifecycle for the Microsoft C++ (MSVC) Build Tools. We are also updating the MSVC release cadence.
As Visual Studio moves to a Modern Lifecycle with monthly feature updates and an annual new version, decoupling the compiler from the IDE offers you the best of both worlds – rapid iteration in the IDE and predictable, long-term stability for the build tools. This approach brings you the latest C++ advancements across both IDE and build tools while helping you maintain secure and compliant build environments, with enterprise-grade support, and flexible upgrades at your own pace.
In this post, we outline the key changes, what stays the same, and how we will help your organization with this transition.
Summary of the MSVC release and support lifecycle changes
Visual Studio 2026 version 18.0 released November 11 with MSVC version 14.50. This version of MSVC will be a long-term support release (LTS).
What’s changing?
- Starting with this release, we are separating the lifecycle of MSVC from Visual Studio and adopting the Modern Lifecycle Policy.
- These changes are specific to the Microsoft C++ Build Tools, which is the collection of Windows C++ compiler tools (e.g., cl.exe, link.exe), C and C++ libraries (STL, ATL/MFC, OpenMP, etc.), and VC Runtime redistributable files. These components are usually installed under [VS Folder]\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.NN.NNNNN\.
- Cadence: MSVC will ship a new release every six months (in May and November), as part of the Visual Studio monthly feature update released on the Stable channel, with 9 months of support.
- Long-Term Support (LTS): Every two years, we will designate the November release as an MSVC LTS release, receiving 3 years of support with bug fixes, security updates, and compatibility improvements.
- Availability: All releases, including MSVC previews, will be available on the Stable Channel and the Insiders Channel for users to opt-in.
The following diagram depicts what our MSVC release schedule may look like for the upcoming years.
What stays the same?
- MSVC acquisition in Visual Studio: Visual Studio will continue to be the primary way to install MSVC using both the full Visual Studio IDE install or the Visual Studio Build Tools install.
- Access to multiple versions of MSVC: Visual Studio continues to offer multiple MSVC versions, including unsupported ones for a limited time, allowing you to update your IDE while independently installing the build tools versions your project require.
- C++ binary compatibility: MSVC 14.50 will continue to be ABI compatible with MSVC versions dating back to Visual Studio 2015, allowing your team to more easily migrate between MSVC versions, independently of your other C++ dependencies.
- C++ Redistributable (VCRedist) follows the lifecycle of the MSVC Build Tools they ship with and continues to be a binary-compatible in-place upgrade (meaning that newer versions of VCRedist will replace older ones without breaking existing applications that were originally built with older versions).
- Support for earlier MSVC releases: The MSVC versions that shipped with Visual Studio 2022 and earlier will continue to be supported according to the lifecycle of Visual Studio in which they first shipped. The new modern support lifecycle applies only to MSVC version 14.50 and up.
- Support for other VS components: No other components installed by Visual Studio e.g., other toolsets, libraries, SDKs, or frameworks are impacted by this change.
Drivers for change
Previously, MSVC followed Visual Studio’s support policy and release schedule. With Visual Studio 2026, MSVC’s lifecycle will prioritize stability, compliance, and modernization to better serve your needs. This shift allows us to deliver more predictable long-term support, help teams stay compliant with evolving regulations, and simplify upgrades with new tooling, all while reducing fragmentation and investing in secure, modern C++ practices:
- New Visual Studio 2026 release cadence: Visual Studio will now be released monthly rather than quarterly, introducing new productivity features and AI workflows more frequently. As the IDE moves faster, we recognize that most customers won’t benefit from MSVC releases on the same new cadence as the IDE. To reflect this preference for stability, MSVC build tools will have a decoupled, less frequent release schedule. And for anyone that wants to move faster between MSVC versions, you can take advantage of our MSVC Preview releases that will be available in Visual Studio on both Insiders and Stable channels.
- Align with .NET long-term support: .NET is already following a modern lifecycle policy. .NET 10 shipped this November, and it is an LTS release for .NET customers. For simplicity and convenience, we are aligning the MSVC build tools LTS schedule to the .NET LTS schedule by designating our November release (MSVC 14.50) as an LTS release.
- Getting current and compliant: Regulations like CyberEO (US) and CRA (EU) require up-to-date tools to secure the software supply chains. Meeting standards, such as NIST and CISA, means depending on outdated compilers is no longer acceptable. These standards are continually evolving to address new security challenges, making regular tool updates essential to maintain compliance. Updating to the latest tools also enables access to more secure and modern coding practices to tackle current threats.
- More value with less fragmentation: Supporting 10-year-old compilers has become increasingly complex. Focusing on fewer MSVC versions lets us maintain the service and security updates you’ve come to expect while investing more towards improving C++ standards conformance, code safety, and performance.
With these reasons in mind, our goal is to modernize the MSVC lifecycle in a way that encourages agility and innovation while providing the best possible support for your enterprise needs.
Helping your team upgrade
To keep your development environment up-to-date and secure, we recommend adopting a regular toolset upgrade rhythm aligned with our MSVC release cadence. We understand that upgrading can present challenges and comes with costs, especially for teams that haven’t prioritized frequent updates before. Based on your feedback, we’re investing in tools and workflows to make moving to the latest version easier, faster, and more predictable:
- Improved Upgrade Workflow in Visual Studio: Visual Studio 2026 introduces a more flexible upgrade experience called Setup Assistant that decouples toolset upgrades from the initial toolset acquisition experience, streamlining side-by-side installations of missing toolsets.
- The overlap of support windows makes migrations easier, whether you upgrade with every release or stick with LTS. You get a one-year overlap for LTS versions and a three-month overlap for regular releases, giving you time to upgrade while staying supported.
- C++ Binary Compatibility for MSVC 14.50: It’s also easy to incrementally upgrade your solutions, taking full advantage of our ABI compatibility guarantee for MSVC 14.50. You don’t need to rebuild all your projects and all your external dependencies at once. And for your third party open-source dependencies, you can count on the vcpkg package manager to rebuild them using the latest toolset.
- GitHub Copilot app modernization for C++: We’re also introducing a new AI-assisted toolset upgrade experience in Visual Studio as a Private Preview. This new functionality can, for example, adjust project settings, enable new recommended warnings or security flags, and even modify source code to eliminate classes of errors introduced by stricter compliance in our compiler. If you are interested, you can sign up for the Private Preview of our GitHub Copilot app modernization for C++ today.
Looking ahead
Thank you for being a valued C++ customer. If you have any questions about how the new MSVC support lifecycle and release cadence may impact your team, you can reach out to us at [email protected].
With the latest MSVC release alongside Visual Studio 2026, we’re excited to bring you significant performance enhancements, improved standards conformance and enhanced security features. Upgrade to MSVC Build Tools version 14.50 today, try these improvements, and share any suggestions via the Help > Send Feedback experience in Visual Studio.
>> the best of both worlds – rapid iteration in the IDE and predictable, long-term stability for the build tools
I guess I fail to see how my IDE should not also be "predictable and stable".
( MY strong impression is that all that Modern Lifecycle stuff is juts to make it easier on the MS side of things.
Not having to support a separate LTS Version and just going with a simple monthly release certainly makes the release process easier. )
Given that final VS 2022 17.14 has an end of support date of 01/2032 I guess even the 3 yr...
We have extensive and deep integration with msbuild, and current projects will be migrated gradually.
What is the recommended way to write conditions in msbuild files regarding C++ Build tools?
Should we rely on VCToolsVersion or PlatformToolset?
Condition="'$(VCToolsVersion)' >= '14.51'"
Condition="$([MSBuild]::VersionGreaterThanOrEquals($(VCToolsVersion), '14.50'))"
Condition="'$(PlatformToolset)'=='v145'"
Condition="$([MSBuild]::VersionGreaterThan($(PlatformToolset), v145))'"
Will MSBuild integration be maintained with Visual Studio Live Cycle or C++ Build Tools or in a mixed mode?
I mean these folders:
- C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio/18/Insiders/MSBuild
- C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio/18/Insiders/VC/Auxiliary/Build
- C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio/18/Insiders/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.50.35717/Auxiliary
Could you elaborate on this?
I'm a bit confused by the versioning of the Insiders channel and the STL ChangeLog.
If I look here https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/releases/2026/release-notes-insiders right now it shows Version 11222.16 of Insiders has been released.
If I look here https://github.com/microsoft/STL/wiki/Changelog it shows a list of features targeting MSVC Build Tools 14.51 Insiders
So is 11222.16 also a point release of 14.51 Insiders or will MSVC have separate Insiders release numbers? Are some of the items shown on the STL ChangeLog included in 11222.16 and prior point releases of VS Insiders?
If they are can I tell which items in the STL ChangeLog are already released ...
I've updated the STL Changelog to properly describe the MSVC Build Tools as "Preview", even though VS is now "Insiders". Using "Insiders" for both was my mistake.
The various streams of version numbers are complicated, so the STL Changelog reflects my best attempt to avoid introducing further confusion. Because production releases of the MSVC Build Tools are no longer shipping 1-to-1 synchronized with VS IDE updates (changing a pattern that held since the early days of VS 2017), and because VS 2026 Insiders is describing itself with IDE version numbers like 11222.16 instead of (hypothetically) "VS 2026 18.1 Insiders 1", I...
Thanks so much for the detailed response.
So if I have this right
1) The STL ChangeLog will continue accumulate 14.51 Preview changes for roughly the next 5 months, which might get quite a long list!
2) These changes will make there way into VS Insider Releases but the STL ChangeLog will not document which ones ( very reasonable BTW ) These will appear in the filesystem in Insiders/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.51.X for some build number X
3) At some point in around 5 months 14.51 Preview will stop accepting new changes and it's entirety will be in some VS Insiders release
4) Some...
I wonder when can we avoid doing #ifdefs regarding C++ standard features that MSVC ignores due to ABI compatibility.
It is also no longer clear what the state of C support happens to be, first C++ and .NET were the future, there is even a famous blog post from Herb Sutter regarding C99 support, then C11 and C17 got almost there minus atomics and aligned memory allocators (in a kind of "yes but" support), and currently no roadmap for C23.
Then there is the question of primitive tooling for C++/WinRT in Visual Studio, versus what was talked about at CppCon 2017, and...
It is interesting that the article you linked to basically said things nobody is going to be really happy with and then, to ensure there were no complaints, disabled comments. This is so typical of MS these days. Most controversial discussions are done in a blog post with comments disabled.
>> If you use a stand-alone Professional license, you simply purchase the new annual version each year. Product keys will continue to work for that annual version, and new keys will unlock the next year’s release.
So MS expects developers to either use the Community edition (which will likely go away soon...
Does this mean we can only expect patch releases of the compiler every 6 months now? Compiler releases were already super slow to respond to bug reports (Like bugs reported in RC’s wouldn’t be fixed until the release afterwards, which was always insane because what good is an RC that can’t fix bugs). Does this mean that bugs found in an RC for the May release won’t be fixed until the November release?
Right now we are building against 14.42 LTSC which doesn’t work in vs2026 because it’s not available there. Based on this post I’m not sure whether that will be coming, or whether we need to upgrade to 14.50 in order to use vs2026. Can you clarify?
You should be able to use the v14.42 build tools in VS 2026. You just need to install them from either the VS 2022 IDE or VS 2022 Build Tools. Also make sure the v14.44 build tools are not installed from VS 2026 or they may take precedence in the project properties configuration.
Augustin/Marian – The person reviewing the ticket is insisting this is a dupe – can you do anything here?
https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/CMakePresets-targeting-toolset-1442-doe/11005920
https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/CMakePresets-targeting-toolset-1442-doe/11005920
@Robert, can you open a separate Developer Community ticket for the CMakePresets issue you’re seeing?
1. It doesn’t work for me. See example here: https://github.com/rconde01/vs_2026_cmake_ninja_14.42 The toolset is set via the CMakePresets.json which works fine in vs2022.
2. I already upvoted that ticket – I do think that once I get a new machine it would be nice if I could manage what I need via the 2026 installer. But I also thought perhaps that ticket was necessary for it to work at all since it wasn’t working.
Please also consider upvoting and commenting on this ticket: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/VS2026-1800-is-missing-option-to-ins/10998076 if availability of older minor versions of MSVC in the VS 2026 Installer would be helpful
Is IntelliSense part of MSVC or the IDE, or maybe a bit of both?
The IntelliSense engine isn’t part of MSVC and would be considered part of the IDE in terms of the support lifecycle.
Is CMake considered part of the MSVC build tools or the IDE? Will the CMake version be kept up to date every month as part of the Visual Studio releases, or once every 6 months as part of the MSVC releases?
I’ve noticed that the C++ IntelliSense for Visual Studio is lagging a bit behind MSVC in terms of language features being added. Now that Visual Studio will get updates more often and IntelliSense is part of it, will this mean that IntelliSense can start to catch up with MSVC?