# MSVC 18 support

**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/msvc-18-support/15446
**Category:** Usage
**Tags:** os:windows
**Created:** [January 7, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/msvc-18-support/15446 "2026-01-07T19:32:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Ravenwater](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/ravenwater/32/5401_2.png) [@Ravenwater](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/Ravenwater)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/msvc-18-support/15446/1 "2026-01-07T19:32:48Z")

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I just installed MSVC 18, but my CMake v3.31.6 is not seeing it. Not finding any coherent documentation that explains what is going on. Is anyone generating MSVC 18 solution files with their CMake?

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### Author: ![craig.scott](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/craig.scott/32/20_2.png) [@craig.scott](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/craig.scott)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2026, 8:51pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/msvc-18-support/15446/2 "2026-01-07T20:51:20Z")

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You’re using a version of CMake that is more than a year old. That CMake version pre-dates the MSVC 18 release. You’ll need to use the latest CMake release (4.2) if you want to use MSVC 18.

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### Author: ![Ravenwater](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/ravenwater/32/5401_2.png) [@Ravenwater](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/Ravenwater)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2026, 12:31am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/msvc-18-support/15446/3 "2026-01-08T00:31:24Z")

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@craig.scott Thank you for that insight. Upgrading to v4.2.1 indeed resolved the issue.