Before we write any code, we need a working C++ toolchain and the Windows SDK. This article walks through exactly what to install and why. If you already have Visual Studio 2022 set up for Windows development, skim the checklist at the bottom and move on.
Hardware and OS Requirements
- A Windows 10 or Windows 11 machine. DirectX 12 is a Windows-only API.
- A GPU that supports Direct3D feature level 12_0 or higher. Any discrete GPU from roughly 2014 onward qualifies, and most integrated graphics on recent Intel and AMD CPUs do too. You can verify yours later with the DX Diagnostics tool (
dxdiagin the Run dialog).
Visual Studio 2022
Visual Studio is the standard toolchain for Windows-native C++ development. The free Community edition is fully sufficient for this series.
Download it from the official Visual Studio site. During installation, the Workloads tab is where the important choices are made.
Required Workload: Desktop development with C++
Select Desktop development with C++. This single workload pulls in everything needed:
- MSVC v143 compiler toolset — the Microsoft C++ compiler and linker
- Windows 10/11 SDK — headers and libraries for the Win32 API and DirectX
- MSBuild — the build system Visual Studio uses for
.vcxprojprojects - C++ core features — standard library, debugger, and IntelliSense support
The Windows SDK bundled with this workload includes d3d12.h, dxgi.h, and the d3d12.lib / dxgi.lib import libraries. You do not need to download the SDK separately unless you want a version newer than what Visual Studio bundles.
Checking What You Have
If you already have Visual Studio installed and are unsure which components are present, open the Visual Studio Installer from the Start menu, click Modify on your existing installation, and verify that “Desktop development with C++” is checked under Workloads.
You can also confirm the SDK version from inside Visual Studio: open any C++ project, right-click the project in Solution Explorer, go to Properties → General, and check the Windows SDK Version dropdown. Any 10.0.x SDK from 10.0.19041 onward is fine for this series.
Confirming the Compiler
Once Visual Studio is installed, open a Developer Command Prompt for VS 2022 (search for it in the Start menu) and run:
clYou should see output like:
Microsoft (R) C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 19.xx.xxxxx
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.If that works, MSVC is on your path and ready to use.
What You Do Not Need Yet
CMake
CMake is a cross-platform build system generator that we will use later in this series — but not right away. The first few chapters use a plain Visual Studio project so the focus stays on Win32 and DX12 rather than build infrastructure. CMake enters the picture after we have the window working and start organizing the project into multiple files.
If you want to install it now, you can grab it from cmake.org. The minimum version needed later is 3.21. But there is no reason to pause here waiting for it — we will walk through the setup step by step when we actually need it.
Git
Useful for following along with the source snapshots at the end of each chapter, but not required.
PIX, Nsight, or other GPU debuggers
These are GPU debugging and profiling tools. We will mention them when they become useful, but you absolutely do not need them to follow the early chapters.
Quick Checklist
Before moving on, verify:
- Windows 10 or 11
- Visual Studio 2022 installed (any edition)
- “Desktop development with C++” workload checked
-
clruns in a Developer Command Prompt without errors - GPU supports D3D feature level 12_0 (check later with
dxdiagif unsure)
That’s everything. The next chapter covers the shape of a Win32 application — the entry point, message loop, and window procedure — before we write any code.