How to perform a minimal installation for C++ on Windows

[AltitudeDashboard]

I tried to search but I got even more confused. My goal is to have a minimal Qt Creator installation on Windows and use the Microsoft Build Tools for C++ as a compiler.
I tried to find out how to do this by installing as less as possible but I couldn't figure it out. Can anyone please help? I don't want to install tens of GB of files in order to follow a C++ book.

[Pl45m4]

@AltitudeDashboard

What is minimal by your definition?
Minimal would not include QtCreator.
You need the QtFramework, that's it.

Uncheck everything except one Qt version when using the Online Installer or compile Qt/QtCreator yourself from source and exclude modules you don't want to use.

[AltitudeDashboard]

Does this include a C++ compiler?

[Christian Ehrlicher]

@AltitudeDashboard said in How to perform a minimal installation for C++ on Windows:

Does this include a C++ compiler

No. Either install MinGW with the Qt online installer or Microsoft Visual Studio.

[cristian-adam]

You can use the choco package manager and install the following:

$ choco install visualstudio2022buildtools
$ choco install windows-sdk-11-version-22h2-all
$ choco install qtcreator
$ choco install qtcreator-cdbext
$ choco install ninja
$ choco install cmake 

Afterwards select "Visual Studio Installer" from start menu and check "Desktop Development with C++" to get the Visual C++ compiler.

windows-sdk-11-version-22h2-all is needed for the Windows SDK and the cdb debugger.

At the end in Qt Creator you would have to create a Kit so that you can configure C++ projects. A Kit consists of a C/C++ Compiler and Debugger. You don't really need the Qt library to develop C++ programs.

If you want a smaller C++ setup you can try:

$ choco install mingw
$ choco install qtcreator
$ choco install qtcreator-cdbext
$ choco install ninja
$ choco install cmake 

The mingw package contains the GCC 13.2.0 compiler and the GDB debugger and also the Windows SDK headers.

As with the Visual C++ setup you need to create a Kit with the GCC compiler and GDB debugger.

[AltitudeDashboard]

Thank you all for helping me.
I was able to make it work
These are the options I have installed for Microsoft Build Tools 2022

Then I enabled Debugging Tools for Windows in the Windows 11 Settings -> Apps -> Installed Apps -> Windows Software Development Kit -> Modify

These are the options I installed in Qt

Probably I have installed too much but at the moment this combination works

[Pl45m4]

@AltitudeDashboard

You can definitely uninstall Design Studio and therefore save 5-10 GB.

[SimonSchroeder]

Is your goal really to use Qt Creator as an IDE for regular C++ projects? Because you haven't selected any Qt version (if you want to install Qt, don't click the check box for the version directly, but expand and only select the version for MSVC).