- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
I'm unable to install DeveloperTools.msi, this error message pops up "Could not find any version of Microsoft Visual Studio."
I'm using Inventor 2014 Pro SP2 and i have Visual Studio Community 2015 installed.
I've googled and searched the forums but I can't find a solution, is there anyone that knows what the problem is?
Solved! Go to Solution.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
I don't think Inventor 2014 supports VS 2015. I think you have to use an earlier version of Visual Studio.
Mark Lancaster
& Autodesk Services MarketPlace Provider
Autodesk Inventor Certified Professional & not an Autodesk Employee
Likes is much appreciated if the information I have shared is helpful to you and/or others
Did this resolve your issue? Please accept it "As a Solution" so others may benefit from it.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
Thanks Mark,
So developers need to install a bunch of versions of VS to make sure their project is compatible with previous versions of Inventor? That sounds strange to me. Maybe I got this backwards, is Inventor backwards compatible with Visual Studio and not the other way around as I first thought? I'm not a developer myself, I just need the EventWatcher to analyze a problem and to help me create some simple scripts.
A list such as “Visual Studio Compatibility for Inventor” would help but I can't find one. The documentation in the SDK folder states what language it supports but not which version of VS. Maybe the language version number goes hand in hand with VS version number?
HOWEVER, I got it to work ![]()
I installed Visual Studio Express 2012, download available below.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34673
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
You can use any Visual Studio version for your add-in, just make sure the project is using a .NET framework that is compatible with the one the given Inventor version is using:
Concerning which .NET version is compatible with which other .NET versions you can find info on the Microsoft site:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff602939(v=vs.110).aspx
Concerning the Inventor Add-In templates, they just have not been updated yet for VS 2015.

Adam Nagy
Autodesk Platform Services
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
Thanks Adam,
That looks like what I expected from the first place. The block that prevents Developer Tools from installing - if the correspondings version of VS isn't installed - still forces the user to have different versions of VS, doesn't it? Couldn't the block just be removed? I don't see the meaning of it.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
If this solves the problem please click ACCEPT SOLUTION so other people can find it easily.

Rocky Zhang
Inventor API PD
Manufacturing Solutions
Autodesk, Inc.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
When I try to install IV 2016 SDK to VS2015 Community I get an error "No VS found..."
Is there a newer developerTools.msi available since?
Or any hints to avoid this?
Thanks,
D
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
Have you tried Visual Studio Express 2012?
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34673
The readme file doesn't mention any VS version after 2012 so that might be it. I have not tried the developer tools in IV2016 yet so I'm not sure.
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor 2016\SDK\SDK_Readme.htm
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
Similar Problem Here , Inventor 2015 Developer Tools Installation Problem. Visual Studio 2015 "Community" And "Express" are installed.
any tips?
Thanks
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
Have you tried Visual Studio 2012? It has has been mentioned multiple times in this thread.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
For example:
msiexec /a developertools.msi TARGETDIR=c:\extracted
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
I am using Inventor 2015 with Visual Studio Express 2015. I have an Autodesk Inventor 2015 Addin Template working. When I build the solution, I get no dll file, and obviously no add-in when launching Inventor.
I have the Build Output Path set to this folder: C:\Users\sanderson\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\StampDrawing\, and I have selected Inventor for the Start external program.
Please let me know what I missed.
Thanks,
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
"I get no dll file"
It does not matter how you set things up if you do not have a dll to load
You have to figure out where the dll is going when you build the project. I assume the project compilation succeeded, right?
It might have gone to a temporary folder somewhere - VB.NET (is that what you are using?) have such a thing going.

Adam Nagy
Autodesk Platform Services
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
Thanks for your reply. If I had to guess, no dll is being created. Is there a step by step guide for this, pertinent to 2015? I do not believe the documentation with Inventor is sufficient. I have been trying to do an add in in my spare time for the last year. Our reseller wants $200 per hour to help us. Please let me know your thoughts.
Note, I would be happy with a "Hello World" add-in to Inventor 2015 using Visual Studio Express 2015.
When I rebuild the project, I get an error of...
The command "call "%VS100COMNTOOLS%vsvars32" ... I thought I fixed this when I added "windows\system32" to the environment variable, put perhaps not.
By the way, I pretty much followed this post: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-customization/inventor-add-in-templates-for-2015/td-p/523576...
to get where I am currently at.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
If you search for that environment variable "VS100COMNTOOLS" and "Inventor" then you can find this forum post that has the solution:

Adam Nagy
Autodesk Platform Services
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
BR, Daniel
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report
Any information you have that would help me do this, for the first time (I have yet to do an add-in program) would be great! Thanks!!!