Unreal Engine Visual Studio C++ Build Errors

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

1. 1. Install the right components

   Copy steps
   1. Visual Studio Installer > Modify > Game development with C++
   2. Make sure MSVC v143 build tools and a Windows 10/11 SDK are ticked
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. 2. Install and pin an older toolset

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   1. Add the MSVC toolset recommended in the log (reports mention 14.38) in the installer
   2. Point UnrealBuildTool at it in %APPDATA%\Unreal Engine\UnrealBuildTool\BuildConfiguration.xml
   Did this fix it? Yes No

3. 3. Clean and regenerate

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   1. Delete Binaries, Intermediate and .vs
   2. Generate Visual Studio project files and rebuild
   Did this fix it? Yes No

4. 4. Source builds

   1. Use a short path such as C:\UE and run Setup.bat then GenerateProjectFiles.bat
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

C++ project fails to compile with internal compiler errors, 'Detected compiler newer than Visual Studio 2022', errors in ConcurrentLinearAllocator.h, or 'Visual Studio 2022 x64 must be installed'.

Why it happens

• Missing Game development with C++ workload, MSVC v143 or Windows SDK
• Newest MSVC toolset not supported by your engine version
• Mismatched Visual Studio version for the engine
• Stale Intermediate and project files
• Long file paths on source builds

This guide also covers

• unreal engine visual studio build error
• unreal engine c++ compile failed
• unreal engine msvc toolchain not compatible

The same problem in other apps

All export, render & quality loss guides →

• Unity Build Failed (Unity)
• Blender Crashing When Rendering (Blender)

Other Unreal Engine errors

• Unreal Engine Fatal Error Crash
• Unreal Engine GPU Crashed or D3D Device Removed
• Unreal Engine Shaders Compiling Forever (Stuck at 45%)
• Unreal Engine Out of Video Memory Error
• Unreal Engine Project Won't Open After Upgrade
• Epic Games Launcher Stuck Installing Unreal Engine
• Unreal Engine Packaging Failed (Unknown Cook Failure)
• Unreal Engine 5 Lumen and Nanite Low FPS