# VSCode "Unable to determine what CMake generator to use. "
**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/vscode-unable-to-determine-what-cmake-generator-to-use/7963
**Category:** Usage
**Created:** [April 23, 2023, 6:24pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/vscode-unable-to-determine-what-cmake-generator-to-use/7963 "2023-04-23T18:24:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@w9ran](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/w9ran)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2023, 6:24pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/vscode-unable-to-determine-what-cmake-generator-to-use/7963/1 "2023-04-23T18:24:35Z")
I realize this is a noob issue but hope someone can help me sort out what’s wrong and fix it. I followed a tutorial to create the toolchain needed to do C++ development in VSCode including installing Cmake and the CMake Tools extension as specified, without difficulty, but I cannot build projects because “Unable to determine what CMake generator to use. Please install or configure a preferred generator, or update settings.json, your Kit configuration or PATH variable. Error: No usable generator” error.
Part of the configuration was to edit settings.json to add “Nmake Makefiles” which seems to have been done correctly. In trying to troubleshoot this issue I found a Runtime Status message from Cmake saying it was not yet activated and:
“Cannot register ‘cmake.cmakePath’. This property is already registered.”
This seems germane to the problem but I have no idea how to correct it. It would be much appreciated if someone here with much deeper knowledge of Cmake and VSCode could help me out.
Thanks!
Bob
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### Author:  [@w9ran](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/w9ran)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2023, 6:58pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/vscode-unable-to-determine-what-cmake-generator-to-use/7963/2 "2023-04-23T18:58:25Z")
Let me answer my own question and not waste anyones time here. With a red face I must admit that I inadvertently typed Nmake instead of NMake - problem solved. Sorry for the bandwidth!
Bob