VS2022 Compile Error

[SplinterCode2020]

Hello, I'm sorry to have to ask this kind of question, and I'm probably just going in circles.

I'm using Visual Studio 2022,

and I would like to compile the last source of ultravnc.

I have downloaded the sources from github.

git clone --recursive https://github.com/ultravnc/UltraVNC.git.

But when i open winvnc.sln, or vncviewer.sln,
I have this error msg:

On the README it is written:

Compile and build in Visual Studio

🛠️ Visual Studio: 2017 | 2019 | 2022

What can I do?

Thank you in advance.

[RudiDeVos]

What branche are you building... at a point some copyright was added to some visual studio build files, that cause files not longer to be detected al VS files.
I reverted it, but it has been in git for a time.

1.7.x branch works, that's the current build branch that will be merged in main

[SplinterCode2020]

Thank you, yes,
The branch where I am building is main

After switching to 1.7.x branch I can open the sln, but the project 'rats' is missing:

C:\source\UltraVNC\librats\rats_native.vcxproj : error : Project "C:\source\UltraVNC\librats\rats_native.vcxproj" could not be found.

probably, may be the best to use the 'Stable' branch, in order to compile without problems?

Thank you.

[Neustradamus]

@SplinterCode2020: librats is a submodule:

• https://www.google.com/search?q=git+submodules

[RudiDeVos]

To build UltraVNC from source with Visual Studio 2022:

1. Clone with submodules:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/ultravnc/UltraVNC.git

If you already cloned without --recursive, run:

git submodule update --init --recursive

2. Bootstrap vcpkg (required for third-party dependencies like zlib, libjpeg, openssl):

cd vcpkg
bootstrap-vcpkg.bat

3. Install the required packages (x86 and/or x64):

vcpkg install --triplet x86-windows-static
vcpkg install --triplet x64-windows-static

4. Open winvnc.sln or vncviewer.sln in Visual Studio 2022 and build.

If you still get errors, please paste the exact error message and we can help further.

[RudiDeVos]

To build UltraVNC from source with Visual Studio 2022:

1. Clone with submodules:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/ultravnc/UltraVNC.git

If you already cloned without --recursive:

git submodule update --init --recursive

2. Install vcpkg (if not already installed — only once):

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git
cd vcpkg
bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
vcpkg integrate install

3. Set the VCPKG_ROOT environment variable to point to your vcpkg folder, e.g.:

VCPKG_ROOT=C:\vcpkg

The project uses a vcpkg.json manifest — Visual Studio will automatically install the required packages (zlib, libjpeg-turbo, zstd, libsodium, minizip-ng) on first build.

4. Install NASM from https://nasm.us/ and ensure it is on your PATH.

5. Open winvnc.sln or vncviewer.sln in Visual Studio 2022 and build.

If you still get errors, please paste the exact error message.